In August 2020, a small TikTok song dedicated to Remy the Rat (the animated star of the 2007 Pixar movie “Ratatoullie”) unleashed a musical metamorphosis. Within a few days, TikTok asked the same question: ‘What if there’s a’ Ratatoullie ‘musical? ‘
The social media app flooded with 60 second presentations from designers, singers and choreographers who all contributed to the opus. Solo performances would grow into choral songs as the user added the turn to the performance of each song. A musical took shape with costumes, dance routines and even small dioramas of projected performances. The year’s devastating isolation and lack of live performances created the perfect spark to ignite an organic, wholly crowded musical.
As the submissions for “Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical” grew, so did its popularity. Andrew Barth Feldman (who played the title role in ‘Dear Evan Hanson’ on Broadway) will soon post his own ballads as Linguini (the awkward chef who uses the help of a Remy to cook).
When it was time for the musical, director Lucy Moss drew to shape this phenomenon into a cohesive show. ‘“Despite being at the forefront of technology and the most Gen-Z thing in the world, they wanted to be like a classical musical,” Moss told The New York Times. ‘The challenge in doing so in the least theatrical space – online – was to stay true to the cause. The goal is a Zoom lecture or an online concert that drank 20 Red Bulls and spat on the screen. ‘
With Feldman as Linguini, additional Broadway / Hollywood names have also shown interest. Award-winning actor André De Shields plays the terrifying critic Anton Ego, Wayne Brady plays Remy’s father Django, Adam Lambert plays Remy’s brother Emile and the iconic Tituss Burgess plays Remy the star of the show.
And now that the masterpiece has been completed, with all the proceeds going to the Actors Fund charity, audiences can donate to watch the entire program at this Today Tix link. But be warned that the performance will only be available for 72 hours.