2020 was a bizarre year. But 2021 is shaping up to be strange as well, at least for the better. An unofficial yet sort-of-official musical of the film Ratatouille has appeared on TikTok, and has raised over $1 million for The Actors Fund charity. That’s right, the 2007 Disney Pixar film about a rat that cooks became a social media musical and raised a significant amount for charity. How did this smorgasbord of a creative project even come about?
Okay, let’s start at the beginning of this. All the way back in August, New York teacher Emily Jacobsen posted a short funny TikTok video envisioning what a song from a Ratatouille musical might sound like. The TikTok accrued over a million views. Normally, people might get a laugh and move on, but in the era of COVID-19 quarantine, people have time on their hands.
Orchestrator Daniel Mertzlufft provided a full arrangement for the video, in the style of a Broadway musical. The TikTok musical arrangement ends with the ironic caption “Coming to Broadway 2021,” which would prove more apt than intended. The idea of a fake Ratatouille musical took off, with other TikTok users making up songs and dances for it. Eventually, the fake musical became a real one, as it garnered the attention of Lucy Moss, the co-creator of the very real Broadway musical Six.
Moss directed a streamed version of the TikTok musical featuring a mix of TikTok contributors and stars, including Adam Lambert, Titus Burgess, and Andrew Barth Feldman. Feldman plays the role of Alfredo Linguini, the hapless chef who is taught how to cook by Remy the rat (and looks the part). According to PlayBill, the Ratatouille TikTok musical started streaming on January 1st and will be available until 7pm on January 4th. So there’s still just enough time to get tickets.
So there we have it. The story of an unlikely chef and an unlikely TikTok musical that nevertheless prevailed. Fitting, no? But you may be wondering how Disney allowed this. Well, the musical is a parody and isn’t for profit, as all proceeds go to The Actors Fund, helping performers, behind-the-scenes workers, and other film, theater, and television professionals who are out of work during this time. Therefore, it doesn’t technically breach any copyright laws. The BBC reports that when asked for comment, Disney responded, “We love when our fans engage with our stories.”
