BWW Exclusive: Meet the Makers of RATATOUILLE: The TikTok Musical- Jess Siswick

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 Jess Siswick, who created the show's iconic artwork!

The response to this project has been insane from the beginning- what has it been like taking it all in on your end?

It was a whirlwind start for me, only a few weeks after I posted my initial TikTok I was on the phone with the advertising agency for the concert. The most unforgettable experience of this whole project was seeing my art up on Broadway marquee.

How did you land on this design that everyone has come to love?

What I love about poster design is coming up with a single image that captures the story. One of my favorite musical posters is the recent revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella. It's so simple and clever. my main inspiration.

I wanted an image that would not only represent something recognizable from the movie but also that was unique to songs from the musical. Combining the iconic plating of the dish from the movie and Emily [Jacobsen]'s lyric that I could not get out of my head: "Remy, the ratatouille." I came up with the idea to create a rat shape- originally I placed it on a plate it looked to busy, so i moved it to a fork added a little steam chef hat for our little rat chef, and clicked upload.

What are your hopes for the future of Ratatouille?

I would love it to become something that could be enjoyed by everybody, whether that's a full show on Broadway or that could be performed in a community. This is the first community-made musical! The songs are too good to be used one time!

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 theatremakers to take content on this medium and other social media seriously?

I certainly think it's a wake up call to take social media seriously as a means to find new talent, especially in this new world of social distancing. This whole experience proves that can still tell a great story at a distance.

Are you working on anything else right now that you want people to know about?

I will continue to make musical style posters of TikTok sounds to fill the void from missing theatre so much.