We are delighted to announce our next Monday Master Class is with Broadway composer and TikTok sensation Daniel J Mertzlufft who will lead our students in a Super Cool Ratatouille Musical workshop live from New York City.

The composer, arranger, music director, songwriter and TikTok influencer’s arrangement helped lead to the TikTok Ratatouille musical movement. It also proved that even during lockdown, there’s a way to reach theater fans and lovers of ballads with killer orchestral flourishes.

A recent digital presentation of “Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical” raised a total of $1.9 million for the Actors Fund when it live-streamed on New Year’s Day. Dan was the creative leader for the show, which featured Tituss Burgess, Wayne Brady, André De Shields, Adam Lambert, Andrew Barth Feldman and Kevin Chamberlin.

In addition to helping bringing Ratatouille to the social media masses, Daniel also made waves composing and arranging “The Thanksgiving Musical,” which was performed on “The Late Late Show With James Corden.” Audra McDonald, Patti LuPone, Josh Gad, Josh Groban and Kristin Chenoweth also performed. “The Grocery Store Musical,” Mertzlufft’s arrangement of Louisa Melcher’s “New York Summer,” was featured on ABC’s “Good Morning America” among other outlets.

Who would have thought that the next generation of songwriters would have come from TikTok? We are really looking forward to working with Dan in association with our friends at  Itheatrics and special thanks to Tim Allen McDonald and Marty Johnson for their support.

Mertzlufft’s original works include “Breathe: Portraits from a Pandemic,” “Dot and the Kangaroo” and “House Rules: A New Musical.” He is actively developing original films, stage shows and adaptations, along with contributing to a variety of productions. He is a member of the advanced class of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop, and graduated valedictorian from The Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam.