The Fringe shows inspired by Heated Rivalry, the steamy LGBTQ+ ice hockey young adult hit TV series

It was one of the most-watched TV series of the past year, as viewers watched the love affair between two male ice hockey players unfold on screen.

Now two spin-off stage shows of Heated Rivalry based on the award-winning series - including a major off-Broadway musical - are to be performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody is currently running at The Culture Club in New York and will transfer with a new cast to Underbelly’s Udderbelly venue for the Fringe. Meanwhile, a second production based on the show, the similarly named Heated Rivalry, The Musical Parody, by Quick and Funny Musicals, will debut at the Fringe in August at Gilded Balloon’s Patter House venue.

Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody is on at Udderbelly in August. | Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody

The TV show, which was broadcast on Now and Sky Atlantic in the UK, is based on the original ice hockey book series Game Changers, written by Canadian novelist Rachel Reid.

In the series, Heated Rivalry stars Connor Storrie as Russian ice hockey star Ilya Rozanov, and Hudson Williams as his rival, Shane Hollander. It tracks the two men’s secret love affair over six episodes.

The US cast of Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody | Matthew Murphy

Dylan Marcaurele, writer of Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody, whose show Pop Off, Michaelangelo! played the Fringe last summer and subsequently transferred to London, said he had watched the series when it was broadcast at the end of the last year and “fell in love with it immediately”.

Mr Marcaurele said: “I watched Heated Rivalry last December, fell in love with it immediately, and started jotting down ‘what ifs’ that made me laugh. I locked myself in my room and wrote a musical about it over three weeks.”

He added: “I originally thought I'd self-produce a concert version at a cabaret space, but when I texted my friend Alan Kliffer if he had any venue recommendations, he responded saying he'd like to help put it up - and with Broadway talent.

“The response to our concerts was extraordinary, and before long, Alan created a full off-Broadway production around it.”

He said the content of the show had appealed to those looking for a “fantasy” of men who are able to be vulnerable.

He said: “I think for queer people and straight women, the show provides a really cathartic fantasy of men (athletes, no less) learning to be vulnerable with each other.”

Mr Kliffer said: “You don't have to have seen the television series to enjoy our show, in fact, some of our audiences in NYC have seen our show, and say they now need to watch the actual series. But for those who have seen the show, or read the books, expect a heartfelt and hilarious love letter to the material and its' fans.”

The Gilded Balloon show, Heated Rivalry, The Musical Parody, pitches the show as a “funny, filthy spoof of hockey's hottest romance”.

It adds: “Packed with songs, sex jokes, scandal and more pucking innuendos than should legally fit into one show, this is an affectionate and outrageous musical send-up of passion, repression.”