2021
I can’t imagine welcoming the end of the week more wholeheartedly. It’s been a somber few days, after domestic terrorists stormed the US Capitol on Wednesday, incited by President Trump. And in the wake of the mob violence and vandalism, it’s hard not to fixate on the fact that less than 100 people were arrested out of the thousands who took part. The stark differences between law enforcement’s handling of this insurrection versus the Black Lives Matter protests of the summer lay bare the racially motivated biases in the system, at its very best—and something much more sinister, at its worst. It all reignited a now-familiar feeling of hopelessness in me, and I can imagine it did the same for many of you. Social platforms may offer a glimmer of hope in reaction to this news, as many are now taking action in a big way. Facebook and Instagram indefinitely banned Trump from using their platforms. Twitter also permanently suspended him, Shopify took down his store, and Twitch disabled his account.
In the wake of all of that hopelessness, I’m looking to entertainment to give me an escape—and to lift my spirits just a little bit. If you’re looking for the same, I’ve got you. I checked out the Ratatouille musical, as promised. I’m happy to report that it was just as cute as the TikToks it was based off of. The musical raised over $1 million for the Actors Fund and featured big-time names like Wayne Brady, Titus Burgess, Andrew Barth Feldman, Ashley Park, André De Shields and Adam Lambert. It was produced by by Seaview Productions along with Michael Breslin, Patrick Foley and PS fav Jeremy O. Harris. One thing that stuck out to me was the care the production team took to highlight the original TikTok creators—from starting the show off with a forward from Emily Jacobsen, who made the first video that started the viral trend, to creating a full playbill crediting all the creatives originally involved. Check it out on YouTube if you missed it—you won’t regret it.
And then, this week, two TikToks that brought me some much-needed distraction: this girl’s surprisingly accurate takes on which mall stores random actors would work at, and this friend group’s stand up competition.
—Darlene Kenney, Marketing Assistant
