Hopes of bringing a “Heated Rivalry” musical comedy to Toronto have been dashed — at least for now — after one of its creators said he couldn’t secure a venue for a stage adaptation of the Canadian TV hit.
“Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody” director Alan Kliffer says he thought the buzz around its New York stage production would draw interest from Toronto theatres eager to book the show as soon as possible. But instead, he said he couldn’t find anywhere in the city to host it this spring.
“I went to every Canadian theatre, every artistic director I know, and the response was: ‘We’re already fully programmed,’” the Winnipeg-raised Kliffer, who is also producing the show, told the Star.
Last month, Kliffer announced the show would expand in New York following a series of sold-out staged readings. A fully staged production begins its eight-week run at Manhattan’s 6th Floor Theatre, formerly the McKittrick Hotel, on May 12, with the opening night on May 26. The director said he’s also exploring the possibility of an off-West End run in London with a separate cast.
Kliffer made his name in Toronto’s improv comedy and theatre scene of the 2010s before moving stateside, where he ran the successful sketch outfit Asylum NYC for several years. Still, he was surprised by how little flexibility Canada’s theatre community had for a fast-moving hit.
He said that earlier this year he contacted Toronto’s Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, Vancouver’s Arts Club, the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre and Montreal’s Segal Centre for the Performing Arts. When none were available, he was left with no choice but to look outside Canada to stage the comedy inspired by Crave’s hit gay hockey romance.
“Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody” is framed by a Greek chorus of “wine moms,” who convene to obsess over the series, serving as narrators of Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov’s blossoming relationship. The comedy is written by Dylan MarcAurele, whose “Meg4n: The Unauthorized Musical Parody” was a joke-packed take on the hit horror film about a killer robot.
MarcAurele started working on the “Heated Rivalry” parody after watching the series when it began streaming in November. His idea to mount a stage production came together earlier this year.
By then, many Toronto theatres had already finalized their seasons.
In other cities, theatre companies have capitalized on shows that capture the current conversation. A musical comedy about the 2023 legal battle between Gwyneth Paltrow and an optometrist over a ski accident hit the London stage shortly after the trial wrapped, while a musical based on Luigi Mangione, who is accused of killing health-care CEO Brian Thompson in 2024, opened in San Francisco last summer.
Neither show has played Toronto, and many similar productions don’t try, said Derrick Chua, an independent Toronto producer who mounted Jake Epstein’s “Boy Falls from the Sky” as part of the off-Mirvish season in 2022.
“It’s a challenge to find space for any length of time, unless you plan way ahead,” he said.
“We’re not used to people coming along to try to find space, so there’s not enough demand for them to exist.”
“Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody” also requires a particular-sized venue. The city’s smallest theatres, seating between 50 and 100 people, may not generate enough revenue to keep the show running, while larger theatres are probably too big for the audience interest, Chua added. Mid-sized theatres, with capacities between 200 to 400, are often the most in demand and hardest to find.
“Some of (them) closed during the pandemic and never reopened,” Chua said. “Others became condos.”
Among the casualties, he cited the Lower Ossington Theatre and Bad Dog Theatre as spaces that might have been ideal for a production like “Heated Rivalry.”
Part of the shortage is by design, he added. Toronto’s theatre scene mostly relies on loyal patrons who purchase season subscriptions, while Broadway and off-Broadway depend more on single-ticket sales, especially by tourists, which help sustain smaller venues.
Kliffer said he saw Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, a non-profit venue in the Village that programs productions by LGBTQ creators, as the ideal spot.
“I want to go into the non-profits because I know a lot of them in Canada are struggling right now,” he said.
“If we were to do Buddies, there would be hundreds of people coming through the door who might not have stepped through the door before.”
A representative for Buddies said Kliffer contacted the theatre in February looking for space in the spring, but it was unable to accommodate him on its main stage.
“Because we are fully booked these next two months with the final shows of our 2025/26 season … we could only offer rental space in our cabaret at that time,” they said.
Despite the setback, Kliffer said he hasn’t given up on his dream of putting on the show north of the border. Aware that many Canadian theatregoers are reluctant to travel to the U.S. amid political tensions, he said he’s exploring hitting the road across the country.
“I would love to have a tour in Canada come the fall,” he said.
“So I’m putting the call out.”
