The TikTok Ratatouille musical— aka the Ratatousical— debuted online on New Year’s Day and has already sold more than $1 million in tickets, in quite the feel-good start to 2021. A portion of the ticket sales will benefit The Actors Fund, which supports performers and workers in the entertainment industry.
The musical came together on TikTok over several months, with creators including composers, fans, set designers, costumers, and choreographers devising musical numbers, songs, and even a fake Playbill for the fictional “show” based on the 2007 Disney/Pixar animated film.
Then suddenly it was actually happening: Seaview Productions announced it was producing the show in association with TikTok, and even Disney/Pixar gave its blessing. The show got some big name Broadway stars to perform the crowdsourced songs, including Wayne Brady going all in with rat makeup as Django, Andrew Barth Feldman as Linguini, Ashley Park as Colette, Kevin Chamberlin as Auguste Gusteau, Andre de Shields as Anton Ego, Adam Lambert as Emile, and Tituss Burgess playing Remy, the rat who loves to cook. The 20-piece Broadway Sinfonietta orchestra was on board as well.
“The Rat’s Way of Life” and “Ratatouille Tango” created by TikToker Blake Rouse are featured in the musical, along with “Anyone Can Cook” and the song that started it all, “Remy the Ratatouille.” It did not have all the glitz and glamour of a high-end Broadway production, but the caliber of the performances given from their homes by the actors, musicians, and dancers (yes, even a kick line!) are top-notch.
Feldman summed it up after the debut: “fantastic.”
Holy. Shit. That was fantastic.
— Andrew Barth Feldman (@andrewbfeldman) January 2, 2021
Near the end of the show, we also get to see many of the TikTok creators who helped bring it all together. I’m not a theater critic by any stretch of the imagination but I love musicals, and I found the Ratatousical to be a creative triumph, sorely needed at a time when Broadway and the rest of the world have been disrupted by the pandemic. And I agree with the critic from The Los Angeles Times who says the show may signal a new way forward for musical theater, one without gatekeepers preventing new talent from having their chance to shine.
I won’t spoil the plot, but it sticks pretty closely to the original movie’s storyline. You can still get tickets for the one-time only streaming performance, which will be available until 7PM ET on January 4th. I highly recommend you check it out.