Ratatouille the Musical

Last updated

Ratatouille the Musical
Ratatousical.jpg
Official poster, designed by Jess Siswick
Music
  • Danny K. Bernstein
  • Gabbi Bolt
  • Kevin Chamberlin
  • RJ Christian
  • Nathan Fosbinder
  • Emily Jacobsen
  • Sophia James
  • Katie Johantgen
  • Daniel J. Mertzlufft
  • Alec Powell
  • Blake Rouse
Lyrics
  • Danny K. Bernstein
  • Gabbi Bolt
  • Kevin Chamberlin
  • RJ Christian
  • Nathan Fosbinder
  • Emily Jacobsen
  • Sophia James
  • Katie Johantgen
  • Kate Leonard
  • Daniel J. Mertzlufft
  • Alec Powell
  • Blake Rouse
Book Michael Breslin
Patrick Foley
Setting Paris, France
Basis
PremiereJanuary 1, 2021 (2021-01-01): TodayTix (virtual)
Productions2021 Virtual Benefit Concert

Ratatouille the Musical (also known as Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical, [1] or Ratatousical [2] ) is an Internet meme and crowdsourced musical based on the 2007 Disney/Pixar film Ratatouille . TikTok user Emily Jacobsen created a short comedic song in tribute to Remy, a rat with a talent for cooking and the main character of the film, in August 2020. This led to another TikTok user, Daniel Mertzlufft, arranging Jacobsen's tribute as if it were a finale to a Disney musical. From there, additional TikTok users continued to add to Mertzlufft's video to envision a full musical, including a playbill, scenic design, choreography, and more songs. In December 2020, Seaview Productions announced a charity benefit concert presentation of the musical. The benefit concert was streamed for 72 hours beginning on January 1, 2021, followed by an encore presentation on January 10, 2021. In total, the production raised $2 million for The Actors Fund and had 350,000 total viewers.

Contents

Development

During the COVID-19 pandemic, users of the social media app TikTok collaborated on musical numbers based on unconventional subjects, such as a grocery store. Earlier in 2020, TikTok users shared cooking videos accompanied by "Le Festin", a song from the Disney/Pixar film Ratatouille . Eventually TikTok users created parodies, including videos of lackluster cooking accompanied by a parody of "Le Festin" with fake French words. [3] In August 2020, Emily Jacobsen, an elementary school teacher, recorded an ode to Remy, the film's main character, among other TikTok video odes to fictional characters. [4] [3] The song went viral after Brittany Broski, a user with millions of followers, reused the music. [4] Two months later, in October, another user, Daniel Mertzlufft, who had previously achieved fame for his "grocery store musical" composition, adapted and arranged the short song as a Disney musical finale. He composed the orchestration in Logic Pro X using software instruments he associated with Disney musicals—particularly the finale of The Hunchback of Notre Dame —including tremolo strings, French horn, trumpet, brass, timpani, and tubular bells. This video received over a million views and spawned thousands of subsequent TikTok videos in a collaboration between theater students and professionals expanding on the possibility of a Disney musical based on the Ratatouille film. [3]

Subsequent videos repurposed prior contributions, such as the "Ode to Remy" lyrics and orchestration, to add new elements, like set design, choreography, and a playbill designed by artist Jess Siswick. [5] Using the TikTok "Duet" feature, users added vocal tracks atop each other to develop musical numbers. One of the most popular songs is a duet between Colette and Linguini sung by between Blake Rouse and Acacia Pressley, composed by Rouse called 'Ratatouille Tango'. Others developed new numbers, such as "The Life of a Rat (Trash Is Our Treasure)" and "A Rat Is a Rat Is a Rat". One contributor, R.J. Christian, created songs for multiple characters in the style of Alan Menken. American Broadway actor Andrew Barth Feldman of Dear Evan Hansen performed a song. Users created a central hub for the collaboration with 200,000 followers by mid-November 2020. [3] Disney Channel and Broadway actor, Kevin Chamberlin, even contributed a song titled "Anyone Can Cook" based on the catchphrase of the original film.

Disney responded to the fan activity with a video of Disney Channel actor Milo Manheim performing a submission for the musical at the site of a Ratatouille-themed ride at Walt Disney World. [6]

Benefit concert

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.

– Disney's statement regarding the musical and benefit concert [7]

On December 9, 2020, it was announced that Seaview Productions would present a filmed concert version of the musical on January 1, 2021, with the event benefitting The Actors Fund. [8] The original creators of the TikTok videos, including Jacobsen, Mertzlufft, Christian, Rouse, Pressley and Chamberlin would all participate in the concert, with Six co-creator and co-director Lucy Moss directing. Michael Breslin and Patrick Foley adapted the film and TikToks into the musical's libretto, with Mertzlufft serving as music supervisor, [9] Macy Schmidt as Orchestrator, [10] Emily Marshall as music director, [10] and Ellenore Scott choreographing. The concert was co-executive produced by Jeremy O. Harris. [10] Siswick's poster design was used for the production. [11] [ better source needed ]

At the end of December, the cast was announced, including Wayne Brady as Django, Tituss Burgess as Remy, Kevin Chamberlin as Gusteau, Andrew Barth Feldman as Linguini, Adam Lambert as Emile, Priscilla Lopez as Mabelle, Ashley Park as Colette, André De Shields as Anton Ego, Owen Tabaka as Young Anton Ego, and Mary Testa as Skinner. Ensemble members included Adrianna Hicks, Cori Jaskier, Raymond J. Lee, John Michael Lyles, Courtney Mack, Mallory Maedke, JJ Niemann, Samantha Pauly, Talia Suskauer, Anna Uzele, Nikisha Williams, and Joy Woods. The 20-piece all-female, majority women-of-color Broadway Sinfonietta orchestra performed the music. [12] [13] The concert featured cameo appearances from ABC News reporter Sandy Kenyon as the TV news anchor who announces Gusteau's death and A Strange Loop 's Larry Owens as a news reporter. Breslin and Foley also cameo as reporters. [1]

A sneak peek performance of one of the new songs written for Remy in the concert, "Remember My Name", was released on December 30, 2020. [9] The preview was performed by Mertzlufft, who adapted the song with Kate Leonard from Jacobsen's original "Ode to Remy" and is the "I Want" song of the concert. [9] [14] A virtual red carpet pre-show was held on the day of the performance, hosted by Kristolyn Lloyd ( Dear Evan Hansen ) and Luka Kain ( South Pacific , Saturday Church ). [15] Tickets to the performance was sold on a "contribute what you can" basis, ranging from US$5 to US$100 each. [16] On January 9, 2021, it was announced that an encore presentation of the musical would be streamed for free on TikTok, with donations to the Actors Fund encouraged, on January 10, 2021. [17] The performances raised over $2 million for The Actors Fund and featured a 350,000 total viewers. [18]

Cast and characters

CharacterBenefit concert (2021) [12]
Remy Tituss Burgess
Alfredo Linguini Andrew Barth Feldman
Colette Tatou Ashley Park
Chef Skinner Mary Testa
Django Wayne Brady
Emile Adam Lambert
Auguste Gusteau Kevin Chamberlin
Anton Ego André De Shields
Mabel Priscilla Lopez
Young Anton EgoOwen Anthony Tabaka

Musical numbers

Source: [1]

  1. "Overture" – Orchestra (Written by Alec Powell)
  2. "Anyone Can Cook" – Gusteau, Remy, and Ensemble (Music and lyrics by Kevin Chamberlin; additional material by Daniel Mertzlufft)
  3. "Trash Is Our Treasure" – Django (Music and lyrics by Gabbi Bolt)
  4. "Remember My Name" – Remy (Music by Mertzlufft; lyrics by Kate Leonard)
  5. "Anyone Can Cook (Reprise)" – Linguini (Music and lyrics by Nathan Fosbinder)
  6. "Kitchen Tango" – Colette and Linguini (Music and lyrics by Blake Rouse)
  7. "Rat's Way of Life" – Emile, Remy, and Ensemble (Music and lyrics by Rouse)
  8. "I Knew I Smelled a Rat" – Skinner (Music and lyrics by Sophia James)
  9. "Ratatouille" – Ego (Music and lyrics by R.J. Christian)
  10. "Ego's Flashback" - Ego and Young Ego [19] (Music and lyrics by Danny K. Berstein and Katie Johantgen)
  11. "Finale" – Company (Music and lyrics by Emily Jacobssen and Mertzlufft)
  12. "Ratamix" - Company (Arranged by Mertzlufft)

Reception and influence

Ashley Lee of the Los Angeles Times initially braced for a lower-budget presentation, but her skepticism waned after the end of the overture and first number. Highlighting the performances of Brady, Park, and Burgess, Lee added, "Without any slick sets, naturalistic props or costars who are even in the same room, their playful performances were still so inventive and full of story — theater, at its core." As for the songs, she felt they "genuinely celebrate the compositional conventions of musical theater and animated Disney movies, and feel as if they’re written by those who truly love them". Lee also applauded Daniel Mertzlufft's work on giving the different songs a cohesive arrangement despite being written by different people. Lee concluded that she hoped the benefit concert would encourage theater creators and fans to "seek out and embrace its undiscovered voices". [14] Viewers particularly praised Brady for his commitment to the concert and role. [20]

Kim Lyons of The Verge said "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." [2] The New York Times theater critic Jesse Green gave it a mostly positive review, praising the songs, but criticizing the book, mainly its reliance on Remy's narration. He also thought that the haste that the show was created in has kept it shallow. He concluded by saying, "There may be too many chefs, but they offer, as one character puts it, 'just the right amount of cheese.'" [21] Bob Verini gave the production four star in his review for New York Stage Review. He praised the cast, particularly feeling De Shields was "an ideal replacement for Peter O'Toole’s silky food critic Anton Ego", but criticized Park's French accent. Verini also noted those unfamiliar with the film could lose key elements of the plot, such as why and how Remy hides inside Linguini's toque and did not like that Burgess had to rely on cue cards, but added that was understandable given the time constraints. He hoped the production had a future as a full production, stating "Visually and emotionally, the material has a lot more to offer than many another previously adapted animated epic." [22]

The creation of the musical has inspired singer-songwriter Abigail Barlow and composer Emily Bear to write songs for a theorized musical adaptation of the Netflix series Bridgerton . [23]

In 2021 Webby Awards, the musical won the People's Voice award in the Social Video category for Television & Film. [24]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alan Menken</span> American composer (born 1949)

Alan Irwin Menken is an American composer, best known for his scores and songs for films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and Skydance Animation. Menken's music for The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), and Pocahontas (1995) has each won him two Academy Awards. He also composed the scores and songs for Little Shop of Horrors (1986), Newsies (1992), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), Hercules (1997), Home on the Range (2004), Enchanted (2007), Tangled (2010), and Disenchanted (2022), among others. His accolades include winning eight Academy Awards — becoming the second most prolific Oscar winner in the music categories after Alfred Newman, a Tony Award, eleven Grammy Awards, seven Golden Globe Awards, and a Daytime Emmy Award. Menken is one of nineteen people to have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wayne Brady</span> American TV host and actor (born 1972)

Wayne Alphonso Brady is an American television host, comedian, actor, and singer. He is a regular on the American version of the improvisational comedy television series Whose Line Is It Anyway? He was the host of the daytime talk show The Wayne Brady Show, was the original host of Fox's Don't Forget the Lyrics!, and has hosted Let's Make a Deal since its 2009 revival. Brady also performed in the Tony Award–winning musical Kinky Boots on Broadway as Simon—who is also drag queen Lola—from November 2015 to March 2016, and as James Stinson on the American TV series How I Met Your Mother.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Judy Kuhn</span> American actress and singer (born 1958)

Judy Kuhn is an American actress, singer and activist, known for her work in musical theatre. A four-time Tony Award nominee, she has released four studio albums and sang the title role in the 1995 film Pocahontas, including her rendition of the song "Colors of the Wind", which won its composers the Academy Award for Best Original Song.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">André De Shields</span> American entertainer (born 1946)

André Robin De Shields is an American actor, singer, dancer, director, and choreographer. He has received numerous accolades including an Emmy Award, Grammy Award, and Tony Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Testa</span> American actress

Mary Testa is an American stage and film actress. She is a three-time Tony Award nominee, for performances in revivals of Leonard Bernstein's On the Town (1998), 42nd Street (2001) and Oklahoma (2019).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kevin Chamberlin</span> American actor

Kevin Chamberlin is an American actor. He is known for his theatre roles such as Horton in Seussical and Uncle Fester in The Addams Family. For his theatre work, he was nominated for three Tony Awards and three Drama Desk Awards. He also starred as Bertram Winkle in the Disney Channel Original Series sitcom Jessie from 2011 to 2015. From 2018 to 2019, he starred as The Wizard of Oz in Wicked on Broadway.

<i>Ratatouille</i> (video game) 2007 movie video game

Ratatouille is a 2007 platform video game developed by Heavy Iron Studios and published by THQ. It is based on the Pixar animation film of same name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pasek and Paul</span> American songwriting duo

Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, known together as Pasek and Paul, are an American songwriting duo and composing team for musical theater, films and television. Their works include A Christmas Story, Dogfight, Edges, Dear Evan Hansen, and James and the Giant Peach. Their original songs have been featured on NBC's Smash and in the films La La Land, for which they won both the Golden Globe and Academy Award for Best Original Song for the song "City of Stars", and The Greatest Showman. Their work on the original musical Dear Evan Hansen has received widespread critical acclaim and earned them the 2017 Tony Award for Best Musical and Best Original Score. In 2022, they won the Tony Award for Best Musical for serving as producers for the Broadway production of Michael R. Jackson's Pulitzer Prize-winning musical A Strange Loop.

<i>Your Friend the Rat</i> 2007 American film

Your Friend the Rat is a 2007 American animated short film by Pixar, written and directed by Jim Capobianco. The special takes on the form of an educational film and stars rats Remy and Emile, the main protagonists of Ratatouille, who argue for the reconciliation of humans and rats. They use historical facts presented via various styles of animation in a style similar to the Adventures in Music shorts, Melody and Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom.

<i>Ratatouille</i> (film) 2007 film by Brad Bird

Ratatouille is a 2007 American animated comedy-drama film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. The eighth film produced by Pixar, it was written and directed by Brad Bird and produced by Brad Lewis, from an original idea by Jan Pinkava, who was credited for conceiving the film's story with Bird and Jim Capobianco. The film stars the voices of Patton Oswalt, Lou Romano, Ian Holm, Janeane Garofalo, Peter O'Toole, Brian Dennehy, Peter Sohn and Brad Garrett. The title refers to the French dish ratatouille, and also references the species of the main character, a rat. Set mostly in Paris, the plot follows a young rat Remy (Oswalt) who dreams of becoming a chef at Auguste Gusteau's (Garrett) restaurant and tries to achieve his goal by forming an unlikely alliance with the restaurant's garbage boy Alfredo Linguini (Romano).

<i>Ratatouille</i> (soundtrack) 2007 film score by Michael Giacchino

Ratatouille (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack album to the 2007 Disney/Pixar film of the same name composed by Michael Giacchino. The film marked Giacchino's second Pixar film after The Incredibles, which was also directed by Bird and also the second Pixar film not to be scored by Randy Newman or Thomas Newman. The album features original score cues, with an original song "Le Festin" written by Giacchino and performed by Camille, and was released by Walt Disney Records on June 26, 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tituss Burgess</span> American actor and singer

Tituss Burgess is an American actor and singer. He has appeared in several Broadway musicals and is known for his high tenor voice. He is best known for starring as Titus Andromedon on the Netflix comedy series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (2015–2020), for which he received five Primetime Emmy Award nominations. He was also featured in Schmigadoon! (2023).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TikTok</span> Video-focused social media platform

TikTok, whose mainland Chinese counterpart is Douyin, is a short-form video hosting service owned by Chinese internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from three seconds to 60 minutes. It can be accessed with a smartphone app.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ashley Park (actress)</span> American actress and musician

Ashley Jini Park is an American actress and musician. She is best known for her portrayal of Mindy Chen on the Netflix comedy series Emily in Paris. She originated the role of Gretchen Wieners in the Broadway musical Mean Girls, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Barth Feldman</span> American actor and singer (born 2002)

Andrew Barth Feldman is an American actor and singer. He began his acting career in musical theater by participating in local productions as a child. Feldman won a Jimmy Award for his high school's production of the musical Catch Me If You Can in 2018. In 2019, he played the title role in the musical Dear Evan Hansen on Broadway. Feldman has also played a guest role in the television musical series High School Musical: The Musical: The Series in 2021 and expanded to films in 2023 with a supporting role in A Tourist's Guide to Love and a leading role in No Hard Feelings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the performing arts</span> Aspect of viral outbreak

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the performing arts, mirroring its impacts across all arts sectors. Due to physical distancing requirements and closure of the physical venues, curtailing not only public performances but also rehearsals, many performing arts institutions attempted to adapt by offering new digital services. In particular this resulted in the free online streaming of previously recorded performances of many companies – especially orchestral performances and plays – lists of which were collated by journalists as well as bespoke crowdsourcing projects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Remy's Ratatouille Adventure</span> 3D dark ride at Disney theme parks

Remy's Ratatouille Adventure, also known as Ratatouille: L'Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy, is a motion-based trackless 3D dark ride, based on the 2007 Disney-Pixar animated film Ratatouille, located at Disneyland Paris's Walt Disney Studios Park in France and at Walt Disney World's France Pavilion at Epcot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lucy Moss</span> British writer-director-composer

Lucy Amelia Nancy Moss is a British writer, director, and composer best known for co-creating the hit musical Six with Toby Marlow. As director of most Six productions, Moss became the youngest ever female director of a Broadway musical at 26.

<i>The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical</i> 2021 studio album by Barlow & Bear

The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical is a concept album by Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear based on season 1 of the Netflix series Bridgerton. They developed the songs on the album on TikTok in early 2021 in a series of live sessions, during which they received and incorporated viewer feedback. Released in September 2021, the album charted on Billboard and elsewhere. It later won the 2022 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album and was the first Grammy winner to be developed on TikTok. Barlow and Bear became the youngest nominees and winners ever in their Grammy category.

Dan Mertzlufft is an American musical theatre composer and arranger best known as a creator of Ratatouille the Musical on TikTok.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Meyer, Dan (January 1, 2021). "Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical Benefit, Starring Andrew Barth Feldman, Tituss Burgess, More, Streams January 1". Playbill . Retrieved January 2, 2021.
  2. 1 2 Lyons, Kim (January 2, 2021). "The delightful Ratatouille TikTok musical has already sold more than $1 million in tickets". The Verge . Retrieved January 2, 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Alter, Rebecca (November 19, 2020). "Broadway Is Closed, But Ratatouille the Musical Is Cooking on TikTok". Vulture . Retrieved November 20, 2020.
  4. 1 2 Dickson, E. J. (November 18, 2020). "An Oral History of 'Ratatouille: The Musical'". Rolling Stone . Retrieved November 22, 2020.
  5. ↑ Fitzpatrick, Felicia (November 21, 2020). "Presenting: The Official (Fake) Ratatouille Playbill". Playbill. Retrieved December 24, 2020.
  6. ↑ Alter, Rebecca (November 21, 2020). "Watch Disney Parks' 'Unofficial' Ratatouille TikTok Musical Number". Vulture . Retrieved November 22, 2020.
  7. ↑ Gartenberg, Chaim (December 9, 2020). "Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical to become an actual one-night Broadway-style show". The Verge. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
  8. ↑ Meyer, Dan (December 9, 2020). "Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical Streaming Concert to Benefit The Actors Fund". Playbill . Retrieved December 9, 2020.
  9. 1 2 3 Portwood, Jerry (December 30, 2020). "Listen to 'Remember My Name' From 'Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical'". Rolling Stone . Retrieved January 2, 2021.
  10. 1 2 3 Meyer, Dan (December 17, 2020). "Original Video Creators Tapped to Provide Music for Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical; Lucy Moss to Direct". Playbill. Retrieved December 24, 2020.
  11. ↑ @ratatousical (December 9, 2020). "TikTok we heard you, let's get cooking. Man cook Featuring the stars of @TikTok_US and Broadway, join us for Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical on 1/1/21 to benefit @TheActorsFund" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  12. 1 2 Evans, Greg (December 28, 2020). "'Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical' All-Star Cast To Include Wayne Brady, Tituss Burgess & Adam Lambert". Deadline. Retrieved December 28, 2020.
  13. ↑ Bereznak, Alyssa (December 31, 2020). "Anyone Can Cook: The Oral History of 'Ratatouille: The Musical'". The Ringer. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
  14. 1 2 Lee, Ashley (January 2, 2021). "Commentary: Why TikTok's 'Ratatouille' experiment is the future of musical theater". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved January 2, 2021.
  15. ↑ Rickwald, Christina (January 1, 2021). "Watch a Live Virtual Red Carpet for Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical on Playbill". Playbill . Retrieved January 2, 2021.
  16. ↑ "Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical Tickets | New York". TodayTix. Archived from the original on January 3, 2021. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
  17. ↑ BWW News Desk (January 9, 2021). "Encore Performance of RATATOUILLE: THE TIKTOK MUSICAL to Stream on TikTok This Weekend". BroadwayWorld. Retrieved January 9, 2021.
  18. ↑ Romano, Nick (January 12, 2021). "Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical raises $2 million for The Actors Fund". Entertainment Weekly . Retrieved April 7, 2021.
  19. ↑ Rickwald, Bethany (December 30, 2020). "Meet the Social Media Sensations Behind Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical". Playbill . Retrieved January 2, 2021.
  20. ↑ Truitt, Brian (January 1, 2021). "'Ratatouille' TikTok musical star Wayne Brady wins Twitter raves for committing to his singing rodent". USA Today . Retrieved January 3, 2021.
  21. ↑ Green, Jesse (January 3, 2021). "'Ratatouille' Review: What's Small and Hairy With Big Dreams?". The New York Times. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
  22. ↑ Verini, Bob (January 3, 2021). "Ratatouille: The Rat In The Hat Strikes Back". New York Stage Review. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
  23. ↑ Fitzpatrick, Felicia (January 22, 2021). "Bridgerton is TikTok's Latest Musical – The Writers Share a Track and Discuss Future Plans". Playbill. Retrieved April 7, 2021.
  24. ↑ Meyer, Dan (May 19, 2021). "Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical, Hamilton on Disney+, More Theatre Projects Win at 2021 Webby Awards". Playbill. Retrieved November 25, 2021.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.