How a Fandom Came Together in Quarantine to Make Something Unexpected: Ratatouille a TikTok Musical
Written by Aesthel
The Ratatouille Musical playbill and poster design, made by Jess Siswick
It’s not every day that a fandom just decides to fully write and produce an entire Broadway musical, but somehow just exactly that is what has been going on with fans of the 2007 Disney-Pixar film Ratatouille. What started as an inside joke with a few users of the video sharing app TikTok has quickly evolved into something that nobody ever could have guessed it would.
After the original “Remy the Ratatouille” song was uploaded on 8/10/2020 by TikTok user @e_jaccs users of the app quickly began to spread the sound like wildfire. As more people heard the song many people similarly began to think not only about how the song sounded like a Broadway song, but also how fitting the story of Ratatouille would be for a musical format.
As more users had the thought, suddenly more and more people had begun posting their own ideas for a potential Rat themed musical. Using the app during this time was pretty crazy as each day we would see more and more talented people coming out to share their work. Everything from more songs based on different parts of the film, to various costume designs, to choreography and set and lighting design. Even designs for the playbill cover were made! The creatives over on TikTok had just about every aspect of this show covered.
It wasn’t long before comments started flooding in asking “When would this be a real thing?” and the various creators from all over the world decided to do exactly that. Some users questioned the actual legality of something like this, considering it was all entirely based on a Disney property. But it was pretty amazing to see how Disney themselves came out in support of the strange internet creation, along with many others who worked on the original film! The Verge reported that they had gotten an official statement from Disney stating that “Although we do not have development plans for the title, we love when our fans engage with Disney stories. We applaud and thank all of the online theatre makers for helping to benefit The Actors Fund in this unprecedented time of need.”
Not only is the Ratatouille musical being produced, but it is starring some of Broadway’s biggest names! The cast is featuring the likes of Titus Burgess as the titular character Remy, as well as Wayne Brady, Kevin Chamberlin, André de Shields, Andrew Barth Feldman, Adam Lambert, Priscilla Lopez, Ashley Park, Owen Tabaka, and Mary Testa. Creators that had worked tirelessly on their songs and pieces for the musical were overjoyed to see such talent playing each part, excited to see who would be performing the songs and dances they had written.
While the production will not be a “standard” Broadway production, there will be no live audience and it is only running for one night, it is still incredible to see something really come together like this. The team behind the musical project are taking all of the necessary steps they need to safely put on this production while the COVID-19 pandemic is still raging on across the world. In many ways, this is the best it all could have gone though! The production is hundreds of times more accessible than typical Broadway productions, being a livestreamed event that viewers can watch from the comfort of their own homes and having a “pay what you can” model for their ticket prices. Tickets for the show start at just $5, and all proceeds from the show will benefit The Actors Fund, giving creators the opportunity to support other creators in this unprecedented and devastating time. Since the pandemic, The Actors Fund has given over $17 million in emergency relief to arts workers across the country. Live theater has been one of the industries that has been his especially hard by the pandemic this year, and we are happy to see how this talented group of young creators has put their minds together for this project. They have not only collaborated across countries all through the internet to put this together, not only have they made a way for both the actors and the audience to safely enjoy this show, but they have also made a way for this production to help other struggling actors.
At the start of the pandemic as we all went into quarantine, many people joked about how they would use all of this extra free time to make something incredible. The real lesson here with the Ratatouille musical is not that we should each make some incredible work of art on our own, but that we should collaborate and work together. Through each individual person’s talents and creativity they were all able to come together and make something unexpected. A production that no one thought would actually get this far. A production that will be remembered for many years to come.