"Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical" is 2020 Creation at its Finest

Do you have a moment to talk about Remy, the rat of all our dreams? Well, too bad, because, much like Linguini, I can’t get this little rodent out of my head.

For those of you who aren’t musical theatre geeks and/or TikTokers, here’s a summary: It all started in August when TikTok user Emily Jacobsen posted a video of herself singing a song she made up about the protagonist of Pixar’s Ratatouille.

Other creators joined in, and before we knew it, there were complete songs and arrangements, choreography, ideas for costumes and sets, a Playbill, and the participation of Broadway stars such as Andrew Feldman and Kevin Chamberlin, who recorded themselves singing songs from the then-fake musical.

What was once a simple meme grew so popular that Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical is now coming to Broadway on January 1st, 2021, in concert form. The cast will include Andrew Feldman and Kevin Chamberlin as well as other incredible performers like André De Shields and Tituss Burgess. They will be joined by The Broadway Sinfonietta orchestra, “an all female-identifying, majority women-of-color orchestral collective” (as described on their Youtube channel), and the concert will raise money for The Actors Fund. In short, what’s not to like?

I have said a few times that this is the best thing that happened in 2020, even though I know it’s not. Even in a year as terrible as this, things happened that were better and more important than a musical about a rat.

But hear me out: this project came to life because a bunch of young people with very few resources (mainly they had their phones, their minds, and each other) came together in a time when coming together seemed impossible, and worked towards a common goal, which was ultimately to make theirs and everyone’s year a little better. The result turned out to be so good, and the audience wanted it so much, that the powers that be (be it Disney, Broadway, or any other force with authority and money) had no choice but to make way.

The entire process of creation, along with the fact that the concert will include so many women and people of color, reinforces the most important point of the plot of Ratatouille: anyone can cook.

2020 was a messy, difficult year, but most of the good things that happened, like Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical, were the product of community, sharing, structures of power being shaken up by outsiders, and people who, in spite of the circumstances, or maybe even because of them, had a strong desire to make a positive impact in the world.

And because it was a strange year, I find no shame in admitting that one of the most important lessons that I will carry with me into 2021 comes from this strange soon-to-be musical: whether it’s cooking, theatre, politics, or activism, anyone can do it, sure. But we have to do it together.

“Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical” — fondly nicknamed the “Ratatousical” — will begin streaming on Friday at 7 p.m. ET for 72 hours. Tickets are on sale exclusively on TodayTix.com and are $5. Proceeds will benefit The Actors Fund, which aids entertainment industry workers.