It only takes one TikTok user to start an entire trend. Many people on TikTok took part in a trend which involved Pixar’s film Ratatouille, which is a movie about a rat named Remy who wants to become a chef. TikTok creators made songs and dances that involved this movie and it quickly spread across the platform.   

Seaview Productions is a major Broadway company that has produced shows such as “Lempicka”, “Three Sisters” and “Sweeney Todd”. This Broadway company was able to quickly turn this trend into a theatrical event as well. 

“This is the quickest turnaround for a Broadway show that I’ve ever seen in my life. That first conversation has to have been three weeks ago. This has all moved so, so quickly,” Andrew Barth Feldman, the actor who played Alfredo Linguini, said. 

Feldman was not the only celebrity involved in this. Kevin Chamberlin played Chef Gusteau, and also helped to create the lyrics of the songs, Wayne Brady played Remy’s father and Tituss Burgess played Remy. The musical was given the name “Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical”. 

The musical premiered online on TodayTix on Friday, January 1, 2021 and had great success. It had approximately 350,000 viewers in total. Each ticket sold for at least $5, and through the 72 hour run of the musical, it raised $2 million for COVID-19 relief because the cast members believed the money should go to a good cause.

“It is impressive that they were able to raise that much money through this. It is also very generous of them to have donate it,” freshman Avery Link said.        

Many Xavier students were impressed with the work of the actors and TikTok creators.

“This musical was entertaining and I enjoyed it. I got to see some people in it that I knew from TikTok, which was cool,” Link said. 

Link was not the only Xavier student that enjoyed this musical.

“At first, when I heard they were making a musical that would be performed online, I wasn’t sure it would still be a good musical, but I watched it and it ended up being one of the best musicals I have ever seen,” junior Riley Braksiek said.

For health and safety reasons, the cast recorded their own parts separately and edited the pieces together, but they were determined to maintain the magic of Broadway despite the challenge of not performing together, which some listed as a con, despite others listing this as a pro. 

“Without any slick sets, naturalistic props or co-stars even in the same room, their playful performances were still so inventive and full of story — theater, at its core,” Lee stated.  

Anyone who is interested in watching the musical can find it on YouTube and the full sound track is there as well.