TikTok commissions its first musical 'For You, Paige' led by Daniel Mertzlufft: Where to watch, cast, and show date revealed 

After TikTok's The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical won a Grammy this past weekend, the social media platform has sat up to take notice of the potential of musicals, commissioning their first original musical For You, Paige.

A clever pun on the app's popular feature For You Page, this Broadway special has Daniel Mertzlufft of the viral Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical at the creative helm.

---

For You, Paige: Written by TikTok, for TikTok

The short-video platform proclaims itself as "a home for Broadway and musical theater lovers," a declaration that is staunchly backed by the numbers. #Broadway and #Musical have received billions of views at 4.4 billion and 6.4 billion, respectively, while #TheaterKid has garnered 574.4 million global views.

A bold attempt at "redefining entertainment," For You, Paige will be performed live from a theater in New York City, and will be broadcast globally on the platform's official account on April 14 at 7.00 pm EST/4.00 pm PST.

The official announcement describes the musical's synopsis:

"In a story inspired by real TikTok creators, teenage music nerd Landon (played by Roman Banks) collaborates with his best friend Paige (played by Sri Ramesh) on a TikTok song inspired by her favorite book series. Landon’s TikTok goes viral, thrusting him into the spotlight — and leaving Paige behind."

But Landon soon realizes that life in the limelight isn't all it's made out to be:

"When a producer offers Landon the opportunity to adapt the book series into a musical, Landon discovers that the glory of doing it all himself isn’t worth the stress and enlists the help of Paige and the TikTok community to turn the show into a huge success."

For You, Paige's cast will also feature popular content creators James Henry, Krystina Alabado, and JJ Niemann in the roles of characters Tyler, Kaia, and Jarek.

The original songs for the Broadway musical will be composed by Daniel Mertzlufft, Julia Riew, Katherine Lynn-Rose, RJ Christian, Blake Rouse, Morgan Reilly, Alex Engelberg, Kate Leonard, and Gosz & Fotos. Some of the play's original compositions that have been teased include Playing in My Key, Out of My Mouth, and Beyond the Dome.

Julia Riew, like Daniel Mertzlufft, also recently wrote her own musical Shimcheong: A Folktale, featuring her own take on a Korean Disney Princess for her Harvard thesis.

The rest of For You, Paige's crew members consist of Maria Goulamhoussen and Emily Maltby as co-directors of the live performance, Patrick Sulken as music director, and Emily and Katie Spelman as choreographers.

The show will be scored by The Broadway Sinfonietta, an acclaimed all-women and majority women of color orchestra founded by Macy Schmidt, who will be the musical's orchestrator.

Creative lead Mertzlufft has been documenting the extensive behind-the-scenes creative processes behind For You, Paige since January 2022 through his livestreams.

His followers have seen the entire journey of writing and arranging songs, creating the plot, chatting with songwriters and cast, and a behind-the-scenes look at how a musical goes from an idea to reality.

The musical will generously pepper in references to viral trends and communities that define the social media platform. Some of these are even afforded their own integral plotlines, like Paige’s obsession with fictional YA series Utopia, which is a nod to the ever-growing community of #BookTok.