‘Operation Mincemeat': Next Stop, The World

Forbes

2 days ago

From left: Claire-Marie Hall, David Cumming, Zoë Roberts, Natasha Hodgson, Felix Hagan and Jak ... More Malone announce the show's world tour
Operation Mincemeat, the hit Broadway and West End musical is embarking on an epic tour that will bring the production around the globe with performances throughout the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, China, Mexico and New Zealand. The show, which began in 2019 at the 77-seat New Diorama Theatre in London, tells a wild I-cannot-believe-that-happened story in the midst of WWII.
In 1943, when most of mainland Europe was under Nazi occupation, the Allied forces knew that in order to get a stronghold on the war, they had to invade what Winston Churchill called 'Europe's underbelly.' Determined to invade Sicily, the Allied forces had to do whatever they could to keep their plans from the Nazis so they could attack without massive resistance.
But how? The British naval intelligence hatched a stranger-than-fiction plan to get a corpse and gave him a detailed fake identity and back story. They dressed him as a British officer they named Major William Martin and attached a briefcase handcuffed to his wrist filled with fake mission papers revealing plans to invade Sardinia. The body was dumped off the coast of Spain so the briefcase with key details about the fake invasion could be washed up and fall into the hands of the Nazis.
And crazily enough, the plan worked. The mission inspired Hitler to move thousands of troops from Sicily to Sardinia and became a turning point in the war. And upon hearing this story—Natasha Hodgson, Zoë Roberts, David Cumming and Felix Hagan—the writers/composers and masterminds behind the theater collective SplitLip, knew it would have the makings for a great musical. Make that a madcap musical comedy with a lot of heart.
'We had been making comedy together for a while and love getting into a room together, making ourselves and audiences laugh,' says Hodgson. 'We decided to embark on the biggest challenge of our lives, which was to create a two-act musical based on a true story. And we wanted to dedicate these years of our lives to a story that we fell in love with completely.'
Roberts, Hodgson and Cumming first connected when they were students at Warwick University and created and performed horror comedy shows, which they did throughout the United Kingdom, including at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Hagan and Hodgson met when they were in a band together. While searching for ideas, Hodgson's brother suggested that she listen to a Stuff You Should Know podcast about Operation Mincemeat.
'It was a crazy, true spy story that changed the course of World War II. My jaw was on the floor. I sent it [to the others] and we never looked back,' says Hodgson. 'There was never a question in our hearts or minds that we had to tell this story.'
With just two songs and a scene, the group got the support of the 77-seat New Diorama Theatre which offered a five week run. In 2019, with a cast that included Hodgson, Roberts, Cumming the tiny-budgeted production was a big success. That production launched more theater transfers and a passionate and devoted fan base of 'Mincefluencers.'
In 2023, Operation Mincemeat opened at Fortune Theatre on London's West End, where it has been extended fifteen times and won the Olivier Award for Best Musical. In addition to Hodgson, Roberts and Cumming, the cast also starred Claire-Marie Hall and Jak Malone, who has been with the show since the Diorama production and won an Olivier Award for his performance. (Malone is also nominated for a Tony this season.)
'Maybe in our secret hearts that we never spoke we might have hoped one day that the show might make it on the West End for one day,' said Cumming: 'We never thought it would get to the West End let alone pop across the pond to like the home of musical theater. It's beyond anything we ever imagined possible. This show was made by a very small team, with no money, doing it for free, just to try and get this story told.'
Even when times were hard and their intrepid determination kept them unstoppable. 'What is great about theater—particularly fringe theater—is that at no point were there so many gatekeepers that stopped us from doing the first version of the show which was cheap as possible. We were in it, cast two [additional] people who are really talented and got a box of sweaty hats' says Hodgson. 'The great thing about theater is that you can put something on yourself. And we wanted to do this more than anything.'
This past February Operation Mincemeat debuted on Broadway at the John Golden Theatre with the original five member West End cast playing around 86 people. In fact 300 Mincefluencers flew to New York just to be at the first performance. Directed by Robert Hastie, the musical is nominated for four Tony Awards, including Best Musical.
In a fitting nod to its roots, the world tour will begin at the Lowry theater in Manchester, on February 16, 2026, where the musical was nurtured in its early development. (Tickets go on sale June 5.) In 2017, during the Lowery's Rewrites showcase for new musicals, SplitLip presented some early songs and one scene from the show, including 'God That's Brilliant,' which permanently remained in the production.
'The Lowry Theater in Manchester was the very first theater we ever performed in as a team and the first theater to ever give us money because they believed in our potential to make work that could really fly,' said Cummings. 'We have been desperate to pay them back ever since. So we are delighted to get to start our world tour where our careers all began. And also it means our mums can see it, which is pretty nice as well.'
With all the accolades and world tours the actual dead man, whose real name was Glyndwr Michael, who made Operation Mincemeat a success is never find from their minds. They are particularly honored to take a kind of custodianship of his memory and hope that his legacy will be remembered throughout history.
'We we say his name during every performance in front of hundreds of people—both sides of the Atlantic now. And soon, internationally,' says Roberts. 'That in itself is a hugely powerful.'
The Operation Mincemeat cast plays around 86 characters.
From left: Claire-Marie Hall, Zoë Roberts, David Cumming, and Natasha Hodgson