2020 / Web post / Crowdsourced TikTok musical collaboration
Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical
A short “Ode to Remy” developed into a collaboratively imagined Broadway musical on TikTok.
The original is hosted off-site; this page provides context and a link to it.
What was this?
Nobody assigned the roles. Theatre fans simply kept adding the part they wished existed, using TikTok replies and duets to make an unwritten musical feel increasingly real. The joke was generous rather than cynical: everyone treated a fake show about a cooking rat with the seriousness of opening night.
Why it spread
The hashtag became a cross-platform theatre-community project during Broadway’s pandemic shutdown. Seaview later brought many of the TikTok creators into a one-time benefit presentation in association with TikTok, while Disney publicly thanked the online theatre makers for supporting The Actors Fund.
What happened
Nobody assigned the roles. Theatre fans simply kept adding the part they wished existed, using TikTok replies and duets to make an unwritten musical feel increasingly real. The joke was generous rather than cynical: everyone treated a fake show about a cooking rat with the seriousness of opening night.
Where it came from
In August 2020, theatre creator Emily Jacobsen posted a short TikTok song for Remy, the rat from Pixar’s Ratatouille. Composer Daniel Mertzlufft arranged it like a big finale; then other creators answered with songs, choreography, costumes, scenic designs, and even a mock Playbill.
Why it mattered
Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical showed how participants could build on one another’s work until an app-based collaboration became a charity performance.
How it spread
The hashtag became a cross-platform theatre-community project during Broadway’s pandemic shutdown. Seaview later brought many of the TikTok creators into a one-time benefit presentation in association with TikTok, while Disney publicly thanked the online theatre makers for supporting The Actors Fund.
Keep going
Related moments
A nervous supervillain, a loudly heroic rival, and a three-act musical released straight to the web.
“Soon may the Wellerman come” introduced a brief period of widespread online sea-shanty harmonies.
A duck walked up to a lemonade stand and asked for grapes.
“I’m bored in the house and I’m in the house bored” became a widely repeated refrain of early lockdown.