Crowd-created TikTok phenomenon Ratatouille the musical is coming to Broadway
It’s a sentence that seemed impossible just a few days ago, and would have made zero sense any time before this year.
But, in a series of events as unlikely as a Parisian rat becoming an acclaimed chef, the highly unofficial Ratatouille musical is coming to Broadway.
The musical, also known as the Ratatousical, is a crowd-created musical phenomenon, not affiliated with Disney, and mostly spread – jokingly – through viral videos on social media site TikTok.
But on Wednesday, it was announced that a full musical of selected songs will officially come to Broadway for a one-off charity performance, streamed online, on 1 January.
Organised by production company Seaview, it will supposedly star Broadway performers, and ticket sales to the digital event will raise money for the Actors Fund.
Unlike a traditional musical, the Ratatouille musical has no single creator, or any canonical music or lyrics.
After an initial post from teacher Emily Jacobsen, social media users began writing their own original songs for a hypothetical Ratatouille musical, based on the critically acclaimed 2007 Pixar animated film.
Hundreds of fans, of both musical theatre and rodent gastronomy, organically built off each others’ songs and ideas, planned running orders, and even designed playbills and set ideas.
The cast of the Broadway version has not yet been announced, and industry publication Playbill has said it is “unclear what numbers [out of the hundreds online] will make into the concert”.
It is also unclear whether it will be staged inside a physical Broadway theatre, though Playbill described it as a “a filmed concert presentation”. The official website claims that “Broadway’s biggest and brightest talents” will be involved.
Ratatouille, the original 2007 Pixar animated film, tells the story of Remy, a talented French rat with an aptitude for the gustatory, who learns to cook from old TV shows and cookbooks made by a famous human chef, Auguste Gusteau,
whose motto is that “anyone can cook”.
While other Disney films have been granted official musical remakes – such as Beauty and the Beast, Frozen and The Lion King – Ratatouille so far has been snubbed.
And, despite the official status of this musical, it is sadly, not that official, with Disney clarifying in a recent statement that the company “does not have development plans for the title”.
The film giant has given this charity performance its blessing, saying “we love when our fans engage with Disney stories” and “we thank all of the online theater makers for helping to benefit the Actors Fund in this unprecedented time of need”.
It has also been confirmed that the creators of songs to be used in the musical will be credited and “compensated”.
The original voice of Remy, actor and comedian Patton Oswalt, had also given the musical his blessing, and promised he would be there, virtually at least. Actors Lou Romano, the voice of character Alfredo Linguini, Janeane Garofalo, the voice of Colette Tatou, have so far not publicly spoken about the Ratatouille musical.
Ian Holm, the voice of antagonist Chef Skinner, died earlier this year. Peter O’Toole, who voiced the food critic Anton Ego, died in 2013.