If you’ve rummaged through TikTok in the last month or so, you may have seen something incredible. As theatre productions around the world have closed from COVID restrictions, musical fans and professionals alike are working on Ratatouille the Musical. Like Goku summoning a spirit bomb, creators from around the world — including songwriters, choreographers, costume and set designers, and graphic artists — have come together for this ad hoc musical production about a rat who wants to be a chef.
The story of this rodent-themed musical dates back to one of the greatest underdog tales in modern filmmaking. In 2007, coming off the mixed critical response of Cars a year earlier, Pixar released Ratatouille, the tale of a rat named Remy who wants to become a renowned chef in Paris. The film would take seven years to go from page to screen, chewing through many iterations and directors before it finally hit theatres. That extra time in the oven worked out, as the film would go on to be one of the most critically acclaimed films the studio would put out in their illustrious history (with a 96 rating on review aggregator site Metacritic).
Despite earning over $620 million at the global box office, the lack of merchandising opportunities meant the film didn’t have the same shelf life as Toy Story of Cars; it’s hard to see children begging their parents for a rat lunch box. So that would have been the end of Ratatouille. But 2020 had one final desert for this animated classic.
A grassroots effort started popping up almost out of nowhere to proclaim that now was the time for everyone’s favourite cooking rat to get a Broadway musical. TikTok user Em Jaccs was making videos praising animated characters with original songs when, in August, she struck big. That month, Jaccs posted an ode to Remy, with the lyrics, “Remy the Ratatouille, the rat of all my dreams/I praise you, oh Ratatouille, may the world remember your name.”
That single video lit the musical community tinderbox ablaze. Ten days after the original was posted, another user named danielJmertzlufft morphed the song into a traditional Broadway number. Shoebox Musicals came up with a miniature stage design. Choreography came soon after, as well as make-up artists, puppeteers and set-designers. Other creators got to work on merchandise, and graphic artists designed the Playbill. Soon, songwriters and musicians threw their berets into the ring, submitting their own original songs to fill out the soundtrack.
This is our contribution to the Ratatouille Musical.ANTON EGO!Loving everyone’s submissions!#ratatouillemusical @ratatouillemusical #antonego
At their best, these songs show off some genuinely talented creators on the platform. The lyrics verge on Sondheim clever; musical hooks will have you humming for days; and the instrumentation is crazy impressive, considering they’re often recorded on cheap equipment and filmed with their phones.
My official entry to the #ratatouille musical. (Idea credit: @danieljmertzlufft ) #ratatouillemusical #theatrekid #foryou #Animation #austok #FYP
One of the best compositions made for this experiment is The Life of A Rat by Gabbi Bolt, an aspiring songwriter from New South Wales. Since starting her TikTok account in October last year, Bolt had been writing and recording original musicals about Australian politics, even getting Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on board for a duet. After watching the broadway arrangement title song for the Ratatouille Musical, Bolt thought “it was the most goofy yet endearing thing.”
“I had seen a few other composers come up with song ideas,” Bolt wrote in an email, “and I just thought, this needs a supporting character song!”
Bolt settled on writing for Remy’s dad, Django, as he convinces his son to use his sensitive nose to help the rat colony with lines like “Trash is our treasure, it’s all that we need/ why ask for better when we’re comfortably, finding the good in the garbage”.
“I honestly wrote, recorded and filmed the whole thing in about an hour before work,” Bolt said, who can be seen in the video where a pair of mouse ears. “I only had the first verse at the time I uploaded the first tiktok because I HONESTLY DIDN’T THINK ANYONE WOULD CARE OR LIKE IT”
Despite her doubts, the Parisian-inspired track has amassed over a million views on TikTok alone, convincing Bolt to write another few verses and a reprisal.
“It’s well and truly the wildest thing that’s ever happened to me. I had to call my mum a couple weeks ago and say that ROLLING STONE had interviewed me,” Bolt said. “It’s truly insane, but it’s also brought with it a really cool community of creative people! I’ve made some friends from this!
For a musical to hit the stage, however, you need more than catchy melodies. The struggles of producing a Broadway show are herculan. To do this over geographic boundaries and the logistic nightmare of COVID, all without a leader is unprecedented. There is no director who can decide which songs to include, and which to remove; or a producer to poo-poo an idea because it’s too weird. And yet, the community has blended all these disparate elements into something that at least feels cohesive, somewhat whole.
We about to nitpick the heck out of it! #greenscreen #ratatouille #ratatouillemusical #ratatouillethemusical
Watching this unfold on my TikTok ‘For You Page’ was like watching someone making a paper mache pinata, building one layer on-top of the other. And I’m not the only one tuning in to this chaotic genius: Videos labelled #ratatouillemusical have amassed over 117 million views.
But this buccaneering band of theatre kids are venturing into the murkiest waters of them all: international copyright law. The Walt Disney Company owns all legal rights over Ratatouille, a fact that often hangs like a ‘Sword of Damocles’ over all the laughs. While fair use protects many of the videos on TikTok, it means there’s almost no realistic chance the musical will even take the leap from phone screen to cheap seats.
Within the entertainment industry, Disney has a reputation of being ruthlessly litigious, going after anyone who is seen violating their precious intellectual property. A recent Instagram post by Pixar themselves, featuring a photo of Remy with the caption “the rat of all our dreams” would suggest the creators are at least aware of this underground musical.
For her part, Bolt is doubtful Ratatouille The Musical will ever have a Broadway premier. “ It’s nice that [Disney are] in on the joke and not wanting to sue us, but I truly don’t think anything professional will come of it,” Bolt wrote. “The most likely thing, if any, is that maybe Disney will fund an online showcase where we get the opportunity to professionally record our submissions.”
A recent announcement seems to have made that dream may come true. Seaview Productions has announced a filmed benefit performance of Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical for the Actors Fund, streaming on New Year’s Day.
In a rare conciliatory moment, Disney stated on this news that “Although we do not have development plans for the title, we love when our fans engage with Disney stories. We applaud and thank all the online theatre markers for helping to benefit The Actors Fund in this unprecedented time of need.”
Regardless whether the musical ever comes about or not, Ratatouille the Musical reinforces the lesson of the film: talent can come from anywhere. Musical TikTokers from around the world have shown that, with a little skill and a lot of gumption, you can change what’s possible.
For Bolt, she’s currently getting back to recording videos about Australian politics, as well as working on her next album. Bolt admits though the album “probably won’t have any rat songs on it.”
Originally published at https://www.lanewaydispatch.com on December 16, 2020.
