SPANK! parodies 50 Shades of Grey on Toronto stage

Fifty Shades of Grey has been an e-book phenomenon, with the trilogy selling millions of copies and a film on the horizon. The parodies couldn’t be far behind.

Mills Entertainment and Just For Laughs were quick off the mark in creating SPANK! The Fifty Shades Parody, a musical stage review that spoofs E. L. James's hugely popular series by playing a romantic relationship for laughs.

Fifty Shades tells of the relationship between a sexually inexperienced young woman and her controlling billionaire boyfriend and features bondage, discipline, sadism and masochism.

In SPANK! Alice Moran and Patrick Whalen play a young couple in a fraught relationship, with some less-than-graphic naughtiness.

The show opens in Toronto Wednesday after sold-out shows in Springfield, Mass., Hartford, Conn., and Las Vegas. Its run at the Panasonic Theatre lasts only until Sunday, when it heads to Chicago.

CBC News talked to the cast about the audiences of screaming women who have come to the show and why Fifty Shades is ripe for parody.