In 2021, I never thought I'd be posting a theatre review after numerous cancellations, closed venues and the struggling art industry, but alas a rat has saved the day!

Though I'm not a TikTok user, it was hard not to hear about the hundreds of videos being made asking for Disney Pixar's Ratatouille to become a musical. As both a Disney lover and a HUGE musical theatre fan, I spent evenings trawling Twitter and TikTok desktop for content and relished in the talent and videos made by people across the globe. There was everything from dance numbers in the kitchen, to split-screen duets, an incredible cover image and set-design ideas. 

For New Year's Day, these Tik-Tok videos helped shape the Ratatouille musical - an hour-long spectacle, narrated by Remy - Tituss Burgess in a fantastic grey turtleneck - and some great Zoom style backgrounds. Featuring 10 musical numbers and a cast including Broadway stars, the production aimed to raise money for The Actors Fund, a US actors charity, to offer beneficial support during a time when the art and theatre scene has been brought to a standstill by the pandemic. 

Anyone who's familiar with the 2007 movie will not be disappointed. Many elements remain the same including the sleeping old lady, a host of rat extras and Gusteau's famous 'anyone can cook' motto. There's even sizzling chemistry between Linguini and Colette, hilarious arm-yanking moments when Remy teaches Linguini to cook, and a look into the relationship between Remy, his dad and brother Emile. 

There's some fantastic choreography cloned across the screen to replicate a stage ensemble (thank you Tiktok filter), some great homemade costumes, and a chilling sequence from reviewer Anton Ego brought to life by André De Shields. Colette is given a seductive yet powerful demeanour by Ashley Park, who'd recently been in Netflix's Emily In Paris  and Andrew Barth Feldman (recently in Dear Evan Hansen) makes a fantastic awkward yet charming Linguini. Through creative editing and inventive framing, it's easy to imagine the characters interacting with one another as if they were occupying one stage together.  There are even kickline dance numbers for crying out loud, and if this doesn't get nominated for an award I'll SUE. 

The most surreal moment for me came at the beginning of the show when I heard 'Remy, the ratatouille, the rat of all my dreams' being played by a full orchestra. The short snappy tune was coined by Emily Jacobsen back in August, before Daniel Mertzlufft created a full orchestra version, which then spanned thousands of other Tiktok users to come up with ideas for the show. I'd listened to the Tiktok mini version of this song across months and laughed at the incredulity of the words and the fact that even though it didn't quite make sense, it was still catchy.

I couldn't post this review without raving about Emile's -played by Adam Lambert -number “Rat’s Way of Life”, written by 17-year-old Tiktok user Blake Rouse, who also writes a great Tango-style duet between Colette and Linguini. Lambert - decked in eyeliner, naturally - brings a real showy punch and rockstar glam punch to a song about rats. I can't believe I just said that either.... 

Whilst it does not yet have the finesse of a full-scale production, the narration from Remy that leads one song to another, is a creative touch.  In a year that has meant physical isolation and digital communication as the norm, there certainly aren't too many cooks in the kitchen when it comes to connecting and creating something as teeth-achingly sincere and silly as this.  

For more information, view the Ratatouille playbill. At the time of posting this, the musical is still available on Todaytix here but alternatively there are versions appearing on Youtube.