During quarantine, many have been hit hard with loneliness, social isolation, and well . . . boredom. Being stuck all day at home with nothing to do meant extra scrolling time on TikTok. As millions of users would browse on TikTok, they started to notice the rising trend of the 2007 Disney film, Ratatouille. 

A TikTok user named Emily Jacobsen created a song for Ratatouille, and this inspired others to join in on the growing trend. Musical numbers for other characters started to be made, and the concept of creating a musical started to reach the minds of the public.

Users everywhere started pushing to make it into a musical, submitting audition clips and sample songs that would be sung. Sample costumes, stage props, and playbills were designed for this crowdsourced musical.

The TikTok musical remake of this classic film takes place in Paris and centers around a rat named Remy, who dreams of becoming a great chef. Though Remy is born a rat that is expected to eat society’s garbage and waste, he cannot accept it; he has very exquisite taste buds that only allow him to eat the most excellent food. Inspired by Chef Gusteau’s saying that “Anyone can cook,” Remy decides to pursue his dream. On his journey, he meets other characters like Linguini, Collette, and the antagonist, Skinner.

The musical stars Tituss Burgess as Remy the rat, Dear Evan Hansen’s Andrew Barth Feldman as Alfredo Linguini, and Emily in Paris’s Ashley Park as Collette. It also features Kevin Chamberlin as Auguste Gusteau, Andre de Shields as Anton Ego, Mary Testa as Skinner, and many other talented people, which include Priscilla Lopez, Adam Lambert, and Wayne Brady.

The beauty of this piece is that its music is composed by everyday users online– it is not made by world-renowned artists, but at-home geniuses. What makes this musical even more phenomenal is that it is dedicated to the Actors Fund and served as a charity event, dedicated to raising money for people in the show business industry who have been hit hard by the pandemic. With a cheap viewing price as low as $5.00, the musical started streaming for 72 hours at January 1 at 7:00 PM. All proceeds from this event are directed towards the Actors Fund organization.

In total, over a million dollars were raised to benefit the Actors Fund.

The musical is wonderful, and the choreography is very exciting and rat-themed. All the shots were taken at home individually, and these videos were compiled artfully into a delicious masterpiece. Featuring talented actors and catchy songs, this truly serves to be the most heart-warming and delectable way to start off the year.

“I’m not on TikTok too much, and I’m not the biggest fan of musicals and such,” Irene Hwang, a Wayne Hills sophomore states. “However, I think that this is really cool. It’s great to see people collaborating together from their own homes, and I appreciate that the money is going to people that are struggling during these hard times.”