TikTok Musical Raises $2 Million

In December 2020, people were shocked with the news of a new musical, created on the popular social app, TikTok. A trend was started where creators wrote music, choreographed, made costumes and merchandise, and even made a Playbill for an adaption of Pixar’s 2007 hit film, Ratatouille. The show premiered on January 1 and viewers could see it until January 4. The tickets were available online for $5.

I grew up with Ratatouille and seeing it put into a musical is amazing, even though it was organized online. No one would have guessed that the musical numbers featured in the show were written by our generation. The popular line from the title sequence over TikTok, “Reeeeeeemy the Ratatouille, the rat of all my dreams” was stuck in my head for months before seeing the show, so I was very excited to hear more.

The show featured many great actors such as Andrew Barth Feldman as Linguini, with Tituss Burgess as Remy, Wayne Brady as Django, Kevin Chamberlin as Gusteau, André De Shields as Ego, Adam Lambert as Emile, Priscilla Lopez as Mabel, Ashley Park as Colette, Owen Tabaka as Young Ego, and Mary Testa as Skinner. Many people were impressed with the well-known actors in the show.

A handful of students at NHS saw the musical and thought it was incredible. Cassandra Mckinney, a junior at the high school said, “I was already familiar with the songs because I’d been following the show’s development on TikTok for a bit, but it was really cool to see professional actors and musicians doing refined versions.” 

Despite being done virtually, the cast and crew did a wonderful job of replicating the film into musical form. “I think people who enjoyed the Disney movie will already like it, but it’s definitely even more fun for musical theater fans. Many of the numbers fit classic Broadway archetypes, but the composers and lyricists were incredibly creative and made it feel fresh and new every time,” said Cassandra. 

“I would definitely recommend the show to anyone who misses theatre right now and to anyone who likes the Ratatouille movie,” said Julia Resnick, a senior at NHS. 

This performance was definitely one to remember, even though it was an interesting approach. I was so impressed that a professional show was made from a trend on TikTok. I cannot wait to see what else there is in store for another possible musical inspired by a movie from our childhood.