Ratatouille serves up piping hot dish of charity, collaboration
From virtual concerts to cast reunions to recreating the entire earth in Minecraft, humanity sure has come up with some exciting ways to stay entertained during quarantine. But one social media platform stands above the rest when it comes to being a boredom buster -- TikTok. While often basic in operation and seldom particularly funny, it sure is great at making the hours fly by. But there is one TikTok trend that became more than just a way to pass the time; it blossomed into a creative, cross-platform collaboration that would bring Broadway back to the world.
Beginning in August of 2020, one TikTok user created a song that, unbeknownst to her, would serve as the sound of a revolution. Emily Jacobsen, an elementary school teacher, created a comical, short musical number praising Remy, the main character and rat in Pixar’s 2007 animated masterpiece, Ratatouille. Helped along by other recent Ratatouille-themed trends and the exposure by popular TikTok influencer Brittany Broski (perhaps known better as simply “Kombucha girl”), the sound soon went viral. Things really started to pick up when the song was adapted into classic Disney musical style by Daniel Mertzlufft. The adaptation sparked imaginations, and soon people began to wonder- What would a Ratatouille musical- A Ratatousical, if you will- really sound like?
Photo from Playbill.com
Soon, creatives from across the app began to get involved, contributing songs, costumes, set designs, puppetry, makeup, choreography, marketing, and more. Users duetted each other to form virtual choirs, each belting their hearts out in support for this labor of love.
Surely, none of the contributors could’ve guessed what would happen next. After all, they were only doing this for fun, and the idea that Disney or Broadway would pick up on what was going on and make it a reality was nothing more than a fun “what if?”
In November of 2020, the official Playbill Instagram account shared a picture of the Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical playbill. Not long after, official Disney accounts across the internet posted similar photos; one Twitter account even shared a poorly photoshopped marquee with the Ratatouille logo outside the New Amsterdam Theater. It’s safe to say that people were starting to freak out. Was this a sign of things to come, or were these corporations just looking to leech off the trend for publicity? TikTokers, memers, and theater kids alike held their breath until one day in December, when the announcement arrived.
Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical would be made into an hour-long virtual concert charity event benefiting the Actor’s Fund, an organization supporting members of the entertainment and theater industries, providing financial aid and support to those in need. When times like these cause entertainers and performers across the world to be out of a job for an amount of time that only seems to be getting longer, it seems only natural that the Actor’s Fund would be the charity to receive the support.
TikTok, and the rest of the internet, went ballistic, reeling with the shock of their dreams becoming a reality, and with awe that something that started as nothing more than a meme could make it this far. This Ratatousical was the shining beacon of hope in an otherwise bleak world for the theater industry. Perhaps most of all, however, people were just surprised that TikTok was being taken seriously for once. Now on the edge of their seats waiting for the January 1 performance, they waited like hungry sharks, stalking every corner of the internet for the one thing that theater kids crave the most- the cast list.
And what an all-star cast it turned out to be, starring Tituss Burgess (The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) as Remy, Andrew Barth Feldman (Dear Evan Hansen) as Linguini, Adam Lambert as Emile, André De Shields (Hadestown) as Anton Ego, and many more of Broadway’s best. Working alongside the original TikTok creators, they delivered a masterful performance breaking the limitations of TikTok while still being a completely virtual event, complete with costumes, orchestration, and lighting. Ratatouille truly came alive in a way that was never-before-seen thanks to the hard work and collaboration of countless creators, a shining example of the saying “it takes a village.”
In the end, over $1 million dollars was raised for the Actor’s Fund, and the musical itself received rave reviews, praised as the ultimate celebration of theater and the work it can do to bring people together, perfectly capturing the spirit of the original movie and the flair of the TikTok videos.
What’s next for Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical? Only time will tell. One day, it could very well be Disney’s next big Broadway production, or it could be left to obscurity, a relic of an internet trend preserved only through bootlegs and saved TikToks. Whatever the future holds for Ratatouille, there can be no denying its impact in the present, supporting actors and crew members in a time of need, bringing together a community of creators to create a performance that is truly magnifique.
By Bailey Staerkel
Oshkosh West Index Volume 117 Issue 4
January 27, 2021