What does it take to bring a TikTok musical to life?

Last week, TikTok's first commissioned musical opened in New York. The musical was performed live, but also streamed live on TikTok itself. The musical was truly for, and by, TikTok: the work of many TikTok creatives and artists (plus Andy Cohen!), coming together to bring the project to life online and IRL.

But this isn't the only selling point of the musical.

For You, Paige, a cheeky nod to the app's crown jewel FYP, was led by Daniel Mertzlufft. Taking us behind the scenes, he spoke to Mashable the day of the show, a busy day indeed, and just three months and a day after the musical was first commissioned by TikTok. The actors, musicians, directors, and writers put the show together in a very short amount of time, propelled by their aims: to be accessible, to be original, to be enjoyed by TikTokers and the social-media-hesitant alike.

"We decided to really lean into TikTok humor," Mertzlufft says. "Why don’t we try to tell a story about my experience and other people's similar experiences on TikTok?"

The TikTok creator was the creative brains behind Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical, so Mertzlufft is no stranger to the musical crossover genre TikTokers can't seem to get enough of. Ratatouille, however, is a film well known by audiences globally. With For You, Paige, Mertzlufft and his team were starting from scratch. What ensues is "a love letter to the TikTok community."

What's the TikTok musical actually about?

The story of For You, Paigeis based on the power of TikTok creators working together. In the production, the lead character writes a musical for his friend, Paige. He puts the song on TikTok, which soon goes viral, and he's asked to put on the show in real life. But this is only possible with the "power of friendship, Paige, collaborators," Mertzlufft explains.

Subtle nods to TikTok within the musical, apart from the title itself, included references to #BookTok (the character Paige is obsessed with a young adult book series that frequents the popular TikTok hashtag), but also sprinkled references to certain jokes, viral sounds, or trends that only true TikTokers would recognize.

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"We built in a bunch of hidden TikTok references." 

"Something fun we decided to do is build in a bunch of TikTok references but also be enjoyed by people who don’t necessarily use TikTok all the time. We built in a bunch of hidden TikTok references," Mertzlufft explains. "If you missed that trend, it’s totally fine. But if you saw it, you’ll know what we’re talking about." 

It won't surprise anyone that TikTok means a huge amount to Mertzlufft. When the pandemic hit, the app became a home for his creative energy. Now, he says, it's changed his whole career.

SEE ALSO: How Daniel Mertzlufft helped jumpstart the Ratatouille musical that raised $1 million

"TikTok means a lot to me. That may be a weird thing to say about an entertainment platform," he laughs. "I’m so thankful. And it's not just the app, it’s the community that embraced the videos I was posting."

Beyond the narrative ("which is SO TikTok"), the accessibility of the musical was crucial — an exciting element not only for the audience, but for the creatives behind the project.

"One of the coolest things was the accessibility. You didn’t gave to be in London and New York. You can just have a phone," Mertzlufft says. "You can watch it for free. You don’t have to pay hundreds of dollars to see that show."

Made especially For You, Paige

The musical was shot on an iPhone, vertically of course, for live viewers on TikTok to enjoy. The host was none other than Cohen, a seasoned radio and television presenter who Mertzlufft said he was delighted to work with. While Cohen wasn't in the musical himself, he conducted interviews with the actors, chatted with the creative team, and walked the cast in before the big performance.

The musical was a truly collaborative experience, with every creator credited and compensated. The music was conducted by the Broadway Sinfonietta, a women- and BIPOC-led group of musicians founded by orchestrator and music director Macy Schmidt. Schmidt also served as the co-producer for FYP.

"It wasn't lost on us that the sheer number of people that watch a live musical theater show on TikTok can sometimes be the amount of people that would see a Broadway show with years of a sold out house live," Schmidt said in a statement to TikTok. "It's reaching a much wider audience than we ever could with live theater, but also totally blowing up the access of who gets to contribute to that kind of work and that really excites me."

"It wasn't lost on us that the sheer number of people that watch a live musical theater show on TikTok can sometimes be the amount of people that would see a Broadway show with years of a sold out house live."

While the traditional route and access to theatre and Broadway aren't completely budging yet, Mertzlufft and his fellow TikTokers are helping to subvert it slightly.

"Is this the perfect way to create theatre? Who knows. But it’s been exciting to try something new," he says. "Musical theatre is such can intimate art form. It’s inherently very human. But in our current world, so is our phone."