There is an icy skirmish brewing between three competing parodies of the smash-hit 2025 TV series, Heated Rivalry, at this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Three different American comedy troupes decided to take their adaptations to the Fringe after successful runs across the pond, and now face a battle for fans’ attention.
Despite the apparent clash, however, producers and actors from all three shows said there is a shared sense of camaraderie between the musicals.
Mariel Sena, an actor and producer for the Puck Bunnies: A Heated Rivalry Drag Musical Parody – which debuted in Los Angeles in April – said she had seen both the other shows and viewed them as “complementary”.
She added: “One of the other shows is also coming in from Los Angeles, and, being that a lot of our cast are musical improvisers that play with some of the other folks in LA, we’re really all friends.
“We view this less as a true rivalry and more a group of people who have all been able to find what resonates with them about the show and create such different, complementary shows. Just because you’ve seen one doesn’t mean you don’t have to see the others.
“I think it really just whets your appetite to see the different ways people can interpret the source material.”
Kyra Brown, who stars as Ilya Rosanov in the drag parody, elaborated: “We each take truly different parts of the show that we’re parodying.
“My opinion is that our show is for the queer fans (Puck Bunnies, Gilded Balloon), and the New York show (Underbelly) is for the 40-year-old mom fans, and the other L.A. show (Gilded Balloon) is more for the gay fans.”
Rob Warner, who plays Ilya Rozanov in the other Gilded Balloon parody (Heated Rivalry: The Musical Parody), which is being shown in the exact same venue as Puck Bunnies, said the original show struck a chord with audiences because of its touching romance and commitment to queer representation.
He said: “It was very touching to have a gay romance in a way that we have not been exposed to on a mass level, and I think that that is part of what really drew us in.
“It also lent itself really well to being a comedy parody. We had a lot of fun turning what was romantic and beautiful into something that was also very funny.”
Heated Rivalry, which is based on the Game Changers series of novels by Rachel Reid, burst onto the scene late last year, and captivated audiences with its steamy romance between professional ice hockey players, Ilya Rozanov and Shane Hollander.
The pair are fierce rivals on the ice rink, but develop a private, initially casual sexual relationship that continues intermittently over several years as they pursue their careers.
In the US alone, the programme reached an estimated 10.6 million people per episode.
Alan Kliffer, who developed the New York-based Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody as an off-Broadway show, said he was determined to work with the show’s writer, Dylan MarcAurele, whom he had known for some time.
He said: “It was before the sixth episode had come out, and Dylan messaged me saying he was writing the parody, and I was like, ‘I am in. How do I become a part of this?’ It was kind of a no-brainer for me.
“I’m Canadian and I had been watching the show, and it seemed like it was ripe for parody, I just I had a good feeling about what Dylan could do with the show.”
Since their off-Broadway run earlier this year, they have had to cast an entirely new set of characters for the Fringe because of clashes with shows in New York.
On why the show appears to have spawned a race to convert it into parody, Kliffer wagered: “I think that just speaks to the insane fandom of the show has garnered. It’s such a phenomenon.”
He added that he and MarcAurele were aware that this was a possibility and aimed to write the show quickly: “I was very aware that we were probably not the only people doing this, and so that’s why we wanted to get out there so quickly. I think we might have been the first to announce.”
He added: “I think that all ships rise, but ours has really risen so quickly, and it’s been such a whirlwind phenomenon, and it’s just been wonderful to watch audiences enjoy it.”
Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody is showing at Udderbelly George Square at 7:50pm, and will run until 30 August.
Puck Bunnies: A Heated Rivalry Drag Musical Parody is showing at The Other Yin (Gilded Balloon Patter House) at 10:45, and will run until 31 August.
Heated Rivalry: The Musical Parody is also showing at The Other Yin, but at 7:45. It will run until 30 August.
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