Joy Woods, Tituss Burgess, and JJ Niemann
The reviews have been generally positive for Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical, which premiered January 1 and raised more than $1.5 million for The Actors Fund. For the record, the creative team included songwriters Danny Bernstein, Gabbi Bolt, Kevin Chamberlin, RJ Christian, Nathan Fosbinder, Emily Jacobsen, Sophia James, Katie Johantgen, Daniel Mertzlufft (also music supervisor, arranger), Alec Powell, Blake Rouse, and Jessica Siswick, with additional lyrics from Kate Leonard. Rounding out the creative team were Michael Breslin and Patrick Foley (book), David Bengali (video design), Macy Schmidt (orchestrations), Emily Marshall (music coordination), Michael J. Moritz Jr. (audio production), Ellenore Scott (choreography), and Lucy Moss (direction).
The cast included Wayne Brady (Django), Tituss Burgess (Remy), Kevin Chamberlin (Gusteau), André De Shields (Ego), Andrew Barth Feldman (Linguini), Adam Lambert (Emile), Priscilla Lopez (Mabel), Ashley Park (Colette), and Mary Testa (Skinner), with Michael Breslin, Patrick Foley, Adrianna Hicks, Cori Jaskier, Sandy Kenyon, Nicole Kyoung-Mi Lambert, Raymond J. Lee, John Michael Lyles, Andrea Macasaet, Brittney Mack, Courtney Mack, Mallory Maedke, Abby Mueller, JJ Niemann, Larry Owens, Samantha Pauly, Talia Suskauer, Owen Anthony Tabaka, Anna Uzele, Natalie Walker, Nikisha Williams, and Joy Woods.
Los Angeles Times (Ashley Lee): By the end of the Broadway Sinfonietta’s overture and Kevin Chamberlin’s opening number … my skepticism for the scrappy experiment had waned. …Their playful performances were still so inventive and full of story — theater, at its core. … “The world can often be unkind to new talent, new creations; the new needs friends,” said André De Shields as Anton Ego. … Watching the production’s curtain call, with the songwriters taking a virtual bow alongside their actor counterparts, I couldn’t help but agree.
New York Stage Review (Bob Verini): Essentially it’s a hour-long concert … built, as Remy (Tituss Burgess) points out, “with just the right amount of cheese.” … Director Lucy Moss manages to integrate the pieces smoothly, supported by a crackerjack tech team. Special mention ought to be made of Mertzlufft’s musical supervision, the orchestral performances of The Broadway Sinfonietta, and the two-person “Dance Ensemble” of Joy Woods and JJ Niemann. … Whatever one thinks of Ratatouille, it would probably be a mistake to dismiss it as a one-off.
New York Theatre (Jonathan Mandell): Ratatouille is deeply satisfying for a whole host of reasons. Its songs are fun and flavorful Broadway fare, richly orchestrated. The starry cast is terrific. The dialogue is bright. But its special appeal rests in the exuberance with which it was created. … “I now know that not anyone can cook,” says the critic near the end, “but a great cook can come from anywhere.” The cooks for this musical came from TikTok, with Broadway in their hearts. As many as there are, they don’t spoil this broth; quite the opposite.
New York Times (Jesse Green): Most of what passes for the book … is bald narration delivered directly to the camera to get as quickly as possible from number to number. Luckily, the job of delivering it falls almost entirely on Tituss Burgess, playing Remy in a rat-gray turtleneck; he finds the right throwaway tone for the throwaway material. The rest of the cast … prove expert in the art of the one-song performance. … There may be too many chefs, but they offer, as one character puts it, “just the right amount of cheese.”
Washington Post (Peter Marks): At a running time of 51 minutes … this Ratatouille is a mere appetizer. But with a winning Tituss Burgess as the human embodiment of Remy … it is a promising first course. … “I won’t let a narrow-minded view determine what vermin can do,” Burgess sings, in the musical’s best number, Kate Leonard and Mertzlufft’s “Remember My Name.” It’s a safe bet that as Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical makes its way in the world — digitally or otherwise — the producers will remember his.