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A CONCORD THEATRICALS TITLE
Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 5 any gender (adult)
David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson, Zoë Roberts
Image: 2023 West End Production (Matt Crockett)
Winner! 2024 Olivier Award for Best New MusicalWinner! WhatsOnStage Award for Best New MusicalWinner! The Stage Debut Award for Best Composer/LyricistWinner! Off-West End Award for Best Musical ProductionNominee: Four 2025 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Book and Score
The year is 1943 and we’re losing the war. Luckily, we’re about to gamble all our futures on a stolen corpse.
Operation Mincemeat is the fast-paced, hilarious and unbelievable true story of the twisted secret mission that won the Allies World War II. The question is, how did a well-dressed corpse wrong-foot Hitler?
After premiering in 2019, with London stagings at the New Diorama Theatre (2019), Southwark Playhouse (2020, ’21 and ’22) and Riverside Studios (2022), Operation Mincemeat made its West End premiere at the Fortune Theatre on 29 March 2023. Two years later, on 20 March 2025, the musical made its Broadway premiere at the John Golden Theatre.
The show is written to be performed by a cast of five, each taking one of the following central roles:
CHARLES CHOLMONDELEY (M, 24) EWEN MONTAGU (M, 30) JEAN LESLIE (W, 20) JOHNNY BEVAN (M, 48) HESTER LEGGETT (W, 45)
And multi-roling the rest of the characters as deemed fit.
The only rules are: EWEN MONTAGU must be played by a woman. HESTER LEGGETT must be played by a man. The gender swapping should not be pointed, exaggerated or even acknowledged. It should simply be part of the fabric of the show. It’s just more fun that way.
The offices of MI5 and other locations. 1943.
★★★★★ “[A] masterclass of macabre musical comedy.” – The Stage
67 five-star reviews... and counting!
“Laughing so hard I could barely breathe is not what I expected for a musical about a World War II top-secret plan.” – The Sun
“Glows with theatrical invention and delivers laughs by the gallon… unmissable.” – WhatsOnStage
“Pure theatrical serotonin.” – Metro
“Unfortunately, five stars is the limit. I would happily give many more.” – Broadway Baby
“A gloriously inventive wartime romp.” – The Times
“My far-and-away favorite production.” – The New Yorker
“A Pythonesque wartime romp that doesn’t shortchange the intellect.” – The Daily Telegraph
“Its whip-crack rhymes are fast and funny… the script is well-seasoned with smart, silly asides.” – Time Out
“A finely varied score, and lyrics that shame most big musicals by their dexterousness and ingenuity.” – The Observer
ON BREAKING CHARACTER
The Truth Behind… Operation Mincemeat18 May 2025
Operation Mincemeat – 2023 Trailer
Operation Mincemeat – West End LIVE 2023
Act I
“Born to Lead” – Montagu & Company “God That’s Brilliant” – Company “Dead in the Water” – Cholmondeley “Dead in the Water (Reprise)” – Cholmondeley “All the Ladies” – Jean & Company “The Pitch” – Montagu, Cholmondeley & Jean “Born to Lead (Reprise)” – Montagu, Cholmondeley & Jean “Making a Man” – Company “Love is a Bird” – Cholmondeley & Jean “Dear Bill” – Hester “Sail on, Boys” – Company “Just for Tonight” – Montagu & Company
Act II
“Das Übermensch” – Company “Bevan’s Update” – Bevan, Cholmondeley & Montagu “The Ballad of Willie Watkins” – Willie & Company “Spilsbury Reprise” – Spilsbury & Company “I Call Abort” – Bevan “Haselden’s Got a Good Feeling” – Haselden & Cholmondeley “Useful” – Jean & Hester “Act as If” – Company “Finale” – Company
All perform page copy must be approved by the creative team. Do not adjust without prior approval.
David Cumming is a member of SpitLip and a co-writer of Operation Mincemeat. An Olivier-award-winning, triple Tony-nominated writer/actor/composer, he originated the role of Charles Cholmondeley in the London Fringe, West End and Broadway productions, which also saw him nomi ...
Felix Hagan is Co-Artistic Director of SpitLip, and a freelance composer and performer in a multitude of different acts and guises. Felix specializes in fusing music and lyrics with vast amounts of excitement and joy, drawing inspiration from classic musical theatre, preposte ...
Natasha Hodgson is an award-winning writer-performer and co-writer and star of Operation Mincemeat, which won Best New Musical at the 2024 Olivier Awards and was nominated for Best Musical at the Tony Awards 2025. She was also nominated for Best Actress in a Musical at the Ol ...
Zoë Roberts is an award-winning writer-performer and cowriter and star of Operation Mincemeat, which won Best New Musical at the 2024 Olivier Awards and was nominated for three Tony Awards including Best Musical in 2025. She was also nominated for Best Supporting Actress in a ...
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