Operation Mincemeat

Musical (2019)
Book, Music And Lyrics: David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson, Zoë Roberts
Directed by Robert Hastie
Choreographed by Jenny Arnold
Broadway in Boston
Emerson Colonial Theater
Theater district, Boston
October 13-25, 2026

Set And Costume Design: Ben Stones; Lighting Design: Mark Henderson; Sound Design: Mike Walker; Orchestrations: Steve Sidwell; Music Supervisor: Joe Bunker; Music Director: Nick Williams; Music Coordinator: Kristy Norter; Associate Director: Georgie Staight; Associate Director: Derek Kolluri; Associate Choreographer: Paul Isaiah Isles

With Mariah Copeland (Johnny Bevan & Others); Katie Kleiger (Ewen Montagu & Others); Luke Antony Neville (Hester Leggatt & Others); Erin Ramirez (Jean Leslie & Others); Jake Bentley Young (Charles Cholmondeley & Others)

In 1943, in the heat of World War II, two British intelligence officers, Ewen Montagu and Charles Cholmondeley, come up with a scheme to mislead the Nazis into believing that the British will invade Greece and Sardinia instead of invading Sicily. In fact, British military strategy calls for invading Sicily, so the mission, if successful, would derail the Nazis from protecting Sicily and allow the British to take it over. The scheme involves delivering into Spanish waters a corpse of what would appear to the Nazis as a downed pilot who was carrying papers that indicated the above British strategy. The agents locate a corpse of Glyndwr Michael, a soldier who appears to have no obvious family, and create a false persona for him as William Martin, adding to the corpse’s uniform a bunch of believable letters and a memo indicating the strategy of attacking Greece and Sardinia. (See Spoilers section below for the outcome.)

What an unlikely and wonderful result lies in this very lively and crazily energetic retelling of a military espionage story! Five actors manage to create – quite amazingly – the sense of a cast of thousands – or at least twenty – with endlessly fast-changing costumes, makeup, and a lot of brilliant acting, giving the shocking sense, at the end, that this short roster of talents had pulled the whole thing off. In fact, three women and two men, all of whom play both women and men, round out this pool of brilliance and do it with incredible verve, composure and consummate timing.

The writing for this show is eloquent and endlessly verbal, and is very satisfying in the way that the libretto for the musical Hamilton (2016) is, with lots of articulation, alliteration, and continual bounce. There are definite similarities between this show and Hamilton, with some considerable sense that even the musical undercurrent borrows quite a bit from that slightly older, now iconic, show. Though that similarity and derivation is fairly obvious, it never becomes an intrusion or impediment, and one gets the sense that whatever the creators of Operation Mincemeat took from Hamilton was done so in a very good, artistically honest, way. Hamilton is full of rap gestures, both musical and literary, and Operation Mincemeat is not; but Operation Mincemeat keeps up the banter level of Hamilton and even borrows some of the bass line thumping that allows the charmingly insistent banter to continue apace. It all works, and, if one show can give to another in this way and produce such wonderfully stunning results, why not?

In addition to the outstanding acting, the choreography – wonderfully omnipresent – is stunning. The intricacy of the moves and gestures in every scene is mindboggling and one can barely understand how the actors could keep it all in a row, but they do so brilliantly and fluidly.

The set, in the first act, is simple, but not boringly so, with various small amplifications along the way, and with the endlessly kinetic and interesting movements of the cast. In the second act, the set opens up quite a bit more, adding some fun and dazzling lighting elements, and even a long staircase. It’s all well-designed and tasteful, with sets by Ben Stones and lighting by Mark Henderson working well together.

Music is capable and stimulating, though one would say that the composition forms a template for the wall of words but does so very competently. Sound overall is good but it is difficult sometimes to catch the particularities of elocution at various points. I don’t know if anything can be done about that is such a fast-patter pace but it would be nice to be able to hear a little more clearly some of that wonderful verbiage that flies by.

The general tenor and rhythm of the show is fast-paced and at points feels a bit unrelenting, with the execution of the music and lyrics being a bit too-much-of-the-same all at once and in succession. This never actually compromises ones enjoyment of this overall brilliantly done show but makes one think that a touch more variation in the tone and tenor of the music and lyrics might have added a bit more to the overall shape and tone. Indeed, there is one such number, brilliantly executed by Luke Antony Neville as one of the women office workers who composes a fake letter from the fake William Martin’s Fiancée to him. It is so wonderfully written and delivered and given such a poignant rendition that it does create a kind of Central Park (or Boston Common) in the middle of the very busy pace of the rest of the show and gives it a fabulous heart and center.

Overall: A terrifically written and conceived show, with amazing acting, singing, choreography and staging.

– BADMan (aka Charles Munitz)