Daniel Mertzlufft is an award-winning composer, lyricist, arranger, producer, songwriter and TikTok influencer based in New York City. He is most known for his viral sensations The Thanksgiving Musical on The Late Late Show with James Corden featuring Audra McDonald, Patti LuPone, Josh Gad, Josh Groban, and Kristin Chenoweth, as well as his arrangement of “Remy The Ratatouille” by Emily Jacobson that launched the TikTok Ratatouille musical movement, and The Grocery Store Musical, featured on ABC’s Good Morning America among other outlets, which is an arrangement of Lousia Melcher’s “New York Summer.” Daniel was also a creative leader for Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical, a live streamed concert produced by Tony-winning Seaview Productions that raised over $2 million for The Actor’s Fund. Daniel served as music supervisor, songwriter, and arranger of the 10 song performance, which was praised by critics worldwide including the LA Times and New York Times, and starred Tituss Burgess, Wayne Brady, André De Shields, Adam Lambert, Andrew Barth Feldman, and Kevin Chamberlin. Daniel’s second major collaboration with TikTok, Project Broadway, led to the Telly Award Winning and first ever TikTok commissioned musical, For You, Paige which garnered over 40 million views, and saw Daniel as Executive Producer, Book Writer, Composer and Music Supervisor. He is also well known for his viral song “In My Head,” written by himself and Jacob Ryan Smith, performed by Andrew Barth Feldman and Joe Serafni and critically praised for its portrayal of young, joyful, queer love.
Daniel’s original works include Grumpy Monkey: The Musical, commissioned by Pasadena Playhouse with a sold-out run, Dot and the Kangaroo, commissioned by MTI Australaisa and iTheatrics, far memory, commissioned by Fall Island Vocal Arts Seminar for Stephanie Blythe and Alan Louis Smith, and Construction Site on Christmas Night, commissioned by Bay Area Children’ Theater. He also wrote on a new score for The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, commissioned by Bay Area Children’s Theatre, The Letter; A New Opera, and a new score for Laura Eason’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer commissioned by MU Summer Repertory Theatre. He is also known for his many collaborations with Kate Leonard and Macy Schmidt, most notably “It Starts With A Bang,” sung by Julie Benko, as well as their collaborations with The Broadway Sinfoinetta, which were performed as part of the Carnegie Hall Citywide series in 2022. He also collaborated with Macy Schmidt for music for The Museum of Broadway.
He is a member of the advanced class of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop, and also recently completed a fellowship at the Rhinebeck Writers Retreat where he workshopped Fashion Show with Kate Leonard.