With performance venues having had to close their doors this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, musical theatre lovers have been channeling their bottled-up energy into creating a musical of Disney Pixar’s Ratatouille on TikTok.
Now the crowdsourced show, a collage of clips from many TikTok users, is to be screened online to raise money for the Actors Fund, an organisation supporting performers and behind-the-scenes workers in arts and entertainment. The online performance will be available to stream from January 1 for three days, courtesy of theatrical company Seaview.
Chief executive of the Actors Fund, Joseph P Benincasa, said of the community project: “The love for the performing arts shines through in the Ratatouille-inspired TikToks from theatre lovers around the world.”
Since October, young creatives – some with genuine Broadway credentials – have been making a musical version of the Pixar film, about a rat trying to become a top French chef, in lively 60-second segments. Spoiler alert: the Disney film is not a musical, so every song in the TikTok version is an original creation, as are the dances, set designs, make-up looks, and puppets.
The TikTok Ratatouille is an unofficial creation, and currently has no links to Disney Pixar. But a lawyer for Disney, who are notoriously protective over their intellectual property, said in a statement: “Although we do not have development plans for the title, we love when our fans engage with Disney stories, we applaud and thank all of the online theater makers for helping to benefit the Actors Fund in this unprecedented time of need.”
Tickets are already on sale for the musical here, don’t miss out on the Broadway event of the year!
