BWW Exclusive: Meet the Makers of RATATOUILLE: The TikTok Musical- Danny Bernstein
Danny was a co-writer of "Ego's Flashback".
By: Nicole Rosky Jan. 06, 2021
When Broadway is dark, all that it takes is one little rat and a team of up-and-coming theatre makers to save the day. Over the weekend, the Actors Fund revealed that, on its premiere night, Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical generated more than $1 million in ticket sales, to benefit The Actors Fund.
Presented by the Tony Award-winning theatrical production company Seaview, in association with TodayTix Presents and TikTok, Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical streamed for 72 hours only over the weekend, featuring content created by members of TikTok's #RatatouilleMusical Community, whose collective work has earned the engagement of more than 200 million fans around the globe.
Check out what the critics had to say about the incredible musical event and catch up on what Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical is all about!
Below, BroadwayWorld is catching up with one of the creators, Danny Bernstein, who wrote "Ego's Flashback" with Katie Johantgen.
The response to this project has been insane from the beginning- what has it been like taking it all in on your end?
I truthfully had disproportionately less involvement in this than the other writers. My friend Katie (@katiejoyofosho) texted me one night asking if I would make her a piano track for her Ratatouille song, and sent me a voice memo and some lyrics. I remember making a piano track in about 20 minutes, shortly after I'd played a drag show outside of Don't Tell Mama. Seeing the response to her video (and tagging my blank TikTok profile) is actually the reason I started making TikTok content. I figured "why not?"
@katiejoyofoshoRatouille the Musical: "Ego's Flashback" music by the brilliant @dannykbernstein lyrics by me ? #ratatouillemusical #antonego #ratatouille
a?? original sound - Katie Jo
If Ratatouille has a future, I would love to actually contribute a complete song, so my name has a bit more reason to be included on the list! I come first alphabetically, so I've wound up at the top of all these names, which feels very odd considering I only wrote what wound up being about 20% of only one of the songs.
What do you think about the future of TikTok as a starting point for other musicals? Do you think this is wake-up call for producers and other theatre makers to take content on this medium and other social media seriously?
I definitely think that producers and other theatre makers should definitely be looking through TikTok to find creators they like, and want to follow (or even finance!), but as far as actual content, I miss writing songs that last longer than 30 to 60 seconds. From a comedy standpoint, it's a great length to land a gag, but from a musical theatre writing standpoint, it's really hard to achieve real depth and development in that time. I'm worried that audiences will become too attached to this short-form songwriting, and won't have the attention span for full-length musicals when they're finally back.
What else are you working on right now?
I actually have two full length musicals (which I wrote book, music and lyrics for) that were ready to go into production and workshop before the world ended: Far From Canterbury and Wings. Definitely keep your eyes out for that when live theatre becomes possible again!
Beyond that, my latest TikTok series has been about The Great Gatsby, which officially went into the public domain as of January 1st. My friends and I have been joking that we're probably going to get 50 Gatsby musicals now that it's free-to-adapt, so I've been writing short songs, impersonating various other composers and songwriters: everyone from Lin-Manuel Miranda to Billie Eilish. It is very, very silly.
Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical starred Wayne Brady (Django), Tituss Burgess (Remy), Kevin Chamberlin (Gusteau), Tony Award winner André De Shields (Ego), Andrew Barth Feldman (Linguini), Grammy Award nominee Adam Lambert (Emile), Tony winner Priscilla Lopez (Mabel), Tony nominee Ashley Park (Colette), Owen Tabaka (Young Ego), and three-time Tony nominee Mary Testa (Skinner), with Cori Jaskier, Talia Suskauer, Nikisha Williams, JJ Niemann, John Michael Lyles, Raymond J. Lee, and Joy Woods as the ensemble.
For more information, please visit Ratatousical.com.
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