An Off-Broadway musical spoofing a queer hockey romance has recouped its entire half-million-dollar investment and just extended its run for a third time, with producers now selling tickets through January 17, 2027. Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody, which started as an eight-week engagement at a venue that had sat dark for more than a year, has turned into one of the more surprising commercial success stories in small Off-Broadway theater this year.
The show, created by composer Dylan MarcAurele and directed by Alan Kliffer, recouped its $500,000 capitalization in just 13 playing weeks inside a 174-seat house, according to Time Out. It performs at The Culture Club at 530 W. 27th St. in New York City, and opened there in May 2026 after MarcAurele reportedly wrote the score, book and lyrics in just three weeks in late 2025, according to Vogue. MarcAurele reportedly began writing songs before the television show's Season 1 finale had even aired.
From Fan Fiction Energy to a 174-Seat House
The parody musical spins off the Crave/HBO Max series about professional hockey players, itself adapted from Canadian author Rachel Reid's 2019 romance novel Heated Rivalry, published by Carina Press. The television adaptation premiered on Crave in Canada in late November 2025 before expanding to HBO Max in the U.S., where it racked up over 600 million streaming minutes by early 2026 and landed among the platform's top-10 shows during the 2025 holiday season, per the Fenway theme-night piece from Hoodline's earlier coverage.
On stage, the story follows fictional hockey rivals Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov, whose relationship becomes intimate, with Jimin Moon leading the cast as Shane and Jay Armstrong Johnson leading as Ilya. In the television series the same characters are played by Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie. Rounding out the show's five-person ensemble are Cherry Torres, Ryann Redmond and Ryan Duncan. The company also includes newly arrived cast member Shelby Acosta.
A Chorus of Wine Moms Named Susan
Rather than simply restaging the show beat for beat, the parody frames its story through a Greek chorus of three Midwestern wine moms, all named Susan, who narrate the hockey stars' secret romance while coping with the long wait for Season 2 of the television series, according to Vogue. Ryann Redmond leads that trio as, in the show's own framing, the ultimate super-fan. Time Out also reported on the production.
Producers describe the show as having grown from a fan phenomenon into a musical with its own credibility, a claim attributed to the production team itself. The creative team behind the stage version includes music director Mateo Chavez, choreographers Brooke Engen and Tiffany Engen, scenic designer Sully Ross, costume designer Brendan McCann, lighting designer Devin Cameron, sound designer Germán Martinez, and intimacy coordinator and sensitivity specialist Ann James. MarcAurele also penned the orchestrations himself.
Cast Turnover Meets Commercial Expansion
The third extension arrived alongside a cast change: standby Shelby Acosta officially joined the company as Shane's Mom & Others on Thursday, taking over for original cast member Cherry Torres, who played her final performance the night before, according to TheaterMania. Kliffer, who directs the production, previously worked at Asylum NYC Chelsea, where he helped build the venue into a prominent comedy hub before partnering with his longtime friend and collaborator MarcAurele on this project, per the same account.
The commercial momentum has continued at the Chelsea stage. The production has also extended its run there.
Betting on a TV Season Arriving Next Spring
MarcAurele's earlier work suggests this kind of viral-to-stage pipeline isn't new territory for him. His electropop comedy musical Pop Off, Michelangelo! ran at Underbelly Boulevard Soho in 2025, and his work has also been covered by The Guardian.
Whether the parody's momentum can hold up once the source material's novelty fades may depend on the television series itself. Season 2 will adapt Reid's follow-up novel The Long Game, with a release window of spring 2027 at the earliest. Until then, the stage version's wine-mom chorus isn't the only one waiting on more hockey romance — as Hoodline reported this spring, the show's popularity has already sent a wave of new players into Bay Area queer and trans hockey clubs even as USA Hockey has tightened its own rules.
