How Jay Armstrong Johnson & Jimin Moon Took Heated Rivalry Off Ice

Somewhere between Jay Armstrong Johnson’s rendition of Ilya Rozanov’s “Big *ss, Cold Heart” and Jimin Moon’s belt of Shane Hollander’s “This F*ck Was Different Than the Last F*ck,” it becomes clear why this musical parody of Heated Rivalry may be unauthorized.

Performed on the sixth floor of The Culture Club (the former venue of Sleep No More), Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody, follows the trials and tribulations of our beloved hockey heroes with a twist. The story is filtered through the perspective of the “Susans,” a group of Midwestern middle-aged women sipping Xanax margaritas from oversize Stanley tumblers, who have developed a psychosexual fascination with the television show.

They’re not the only ones coming out to see it. The show, which writer and composer Dylan MarcAurele created in just three weeks, has been selling out shows since its May 12 opening and is expected to do so through its close in September.

The very real wine moms who inspired the Susans have shown up in droves to support the musical’s run. “Groups of women will travel with their Yeti tumblers of sauvignon blanc [from North Carolina] to New York City just to have another go at Heated Rivalry,” says Johnson, who most recently starred as Christian in Moulin Rouge!. “It’s a phenomenon. It still blows me away to this day.”

Despite the musical’s slapstick moments and punchy double entendres, the significance of the Heated Rivalry moment is not lost on the actors. In fact, rather than leaning on a cheap accent, Johnson enlisted the help of dialect coach Christopher Gurr to become Ilya. Moon — who acted across from Nicole Scherzinger as an understudy in Sunset Blvd. — quit smoking to sing eight times a week on stage. “Oh, my God, it sucks,” they say.

Though both actors are Broadway alums, they felt drawn to this off-Broadway project in particular. “Watching a queer story that’s not about trauma has been so refreshing,” says Johnson. “I was bracing myself for all of the scenes where they were coming out of the closet. and I was just waiting for a mother or a friend or someone to take the information poorly and for it to be a traumatic moment. And it is always supported and lovely and reaffirming, and I think that a lot of queer stories don’t have that kind of support in them.”

Moon was interested in Shane’s background. “So many of the people in my life who are a little bit older than me really hold onto that trauma immensely of feeling completely undesirable or completely fetishized for being Asian,” they say. “I think it’s really impressive to have a piece of media with so much broad market appeal that’s about a queer Asian man and his Asianness isn’t played for laughs.”

Below, Moon and Johnson open up about their first-ever acting roles, getting into character, and Lorde.

On their first roles:

Moon: I was Townsperson No. 3 in the non-Disney royalty-free version of Pinocchio.

Johnson: The very first time I got cast in an onstage production was as the center-stage Turkey in the Thanksgiving pageant in kindergarten. But my first community theater production was A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and I shared the role of Puck with two other kids.

On falling in love with theater:

Moon: With the rise of AI and how digital everything is, and how much everything in our day-to-day life feels so impersonal and disconnected, theater really is the thing that makes me feel like everyone in a space actually is looking at each other and talking to each other and communicating with one another.

Johnson: Not that I didn’t have support from family, but my dad was a drummer and always told me, “You need a fallback plan, son.” And I was like, “No, Dad, I’m never going to have a fallback plan because theater is my fallback plan.” If I don’t make it an acting, I’ll be a director. If I don’t make it as a director, I’ll be a producer. I always knew that I would be connected to the arts in some form or fashion.

On getting into character:

Moon: I do 50 pushups, and then I go out on stage, and that’s kind of my last physical warmup. I like to be a little bit tired because it keeps me aware of what I’m doing.

Johnson: My first character, Steve, is in the opening number as a part of Shane’s hockey team, so I don’t actually get to be Ilya until my second scene. Getting into Ilya, is literally taking off my Steve mustache and drawing my Ilya mole on my face. Then I have officially transformed.

On pre-show music:

Moon: We don’t really have pump-up music because the pre-show music is so loud, but that playlist always starts with “Green Light” by Lorde. I have a really great Lorde impression that everyone’s really impressed by, and no one’s annoyed by it at this point.

Johnson: We need to bring Lorde to Heated Rivalry: The Unofficial Parody Musical.