Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical

Out of the box, great cast, perfect songs, and the story behind it all is amazing. Hope this gets a real life live version. Because a recording doesn't do it full justice.

This musical is a disgrace to the original ratatouille

Let me just say this it is amazing that this even exists. It is a testament to the strong communities on TikTok.

It has plenty of cringe and I have my complaints. You can often tell that people are reading from their scripts which is fairly annoying because I believe the clips were pre-recorded so... maybe do another take. There is also very little communicated visually beyond the characters so if you've never seen the original film you probably won't know what's going on. This could have been easily fixed with a good editor, but I get that they didn't really have a budget. Still, I wish they would have given me a call.

That being said, everyone put's on a great performance. I hope to see this put into a proper stage production because I think everyone would do amazing. And the one thing that indefinably doesn't disappointing is the music! Seriously, where can I get the soundtrack? These songs a fire!

In an era of cash cows and soulless cash grabs- not to mention the unfortunate and devastating effects of COVID on our society- it is rare to find a piece of media as creative as this one. The fact that the entire musical was written by everyday people proves that community will always triumph over distance and distrust, and this heartwarming message of shared passion overcoming all barriers is potent in this musical. It is a brilliant, focused, powerful display of emotion and unity; it celebrates our differences and reminds us of our similarities; and it never forgets itself. The musical helped me forget the feelings of terror from the pandemic for a while. For that, it has more than earned a ten star review.

I first heard of the Ratatouille TikTok musical via an episode of the BuzzFeed podcast News O'Clock. That's also where I first heard of the grocery store musical. When I heard the music, I thought it incredible that this pandemic could bring out so much creativity, and also, why hasn't Disney and Pixar's lawyers stepped in?

So anyhoo, after this musical was released, I gave it a standing ovation from my couch! Every single song was incredibly written, the performances were standouts, most notably Ashley Park as Colette, Wayne Brady as Django, Adam Lambert as Emile, Andrew Barth Feldman as Linguini, Mary Testa cross-cast as Skinner, and, of course, Tituss Burgess as Remy. I also really love all the cute references to other Broadway musicals. I also have to applaud the Broadway Sinfonietta Orchestra for making this sound like a true Broadway musical.

Of course, this isn't exactly perfect. One of my biggest criticisms is with the book and its reliance on Remy's narration. Also, because of the short runtime, a lot of subplots fall by the wayside, and as a result, Ego's appearance is a little too brief and the character development comes too quick.

But other than that, this was definitely a perfect way to begin the New Year after the dumpster fire that was 2020. It's a shame that this is only available to view for a limited time. I only hope that this continues to live on in some form or another, whether it be a cast recording, a show at the Disney parks, or even a full-fledged two-act Broadway musical. (Well, one can dream, can't they?)