A stolen corpse, dressed in a British military uniform with a false plan to occupy Sardinia in his briefcase, fools Hitler and saves the Allied Forces and Sicily (the true target, to take back the island from the Nazis) in Spitlip Theatre Company’s Operation Mincemeat, now making its already extended Broadway debut in a limited engagement transfer at the John Golden Theatre following its award-winning world premiere in London (where it’s still playing at the West End’s Fortune Theatre). The fast-paced musical retelling of the far-fetched but true covert operation that turned the tide of WWII, with book, music, and lyrics by Spitlip members David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson, and Zoë Roberts, is part madcap comedy, part spy thriller, and totally hilarious, performed by a zany cast of five taking on more than eight dozen quick-change and often cross-gender roles with laugh-out-loud abandon and masterful precision.
Set in 1943, at the offices of the MI5 (Military Intelligence, Section 5 – the UK’s domestic counter-intelligence and security agency) and other locales in war-torn and post-war Europe, a central group of operatives devises, secures approval, implements, and oversees the mission, surreptitiously obtaining a cadaver, inventing a name, detailed identity, and misleading paperwork for the unknown dead man, having the body garbed in naval attire and then dropped in the waters off the coast of Spain, in the hopes that whoever finds the planted disinformation will pass it on to the Nazis. Amazingly, it worked – but not without a lot of tumultuous crossed wires and a frantic last-minute attempt to abort.
Under the whirlwind direction of Robert Hastie, the all-in uproarious ensemble – David Cumming as the brilliant but nerdy Charles Cholmondeley, who first envisioned the plan but was too timid to present it (and has a running joke about a newt); Natasha Hodgson as his bold and ambitious colleague Ewen Montagu, who takes charge and drives it forward, but has a few secrets of his own; Jak Malone as the head secretary Hester Leggett, who is professional and efficient but deeply pained inside; Claire Marie-Hall as her underling Jean Leslie, who, though smart and industrious, finds it hard to rise through the ranks as a woman; and Zoë Roberts as the commanding and macho Colonel Johnny Bevan, who, attracted to Jean, is initially supportive then belittling of his team when things seem to go awry – delivers the parodic personalities, distinctive vocal patterns, body language, and over-the-top physical comedy with full-out zest and farcical finesse, never missing a beat in their non-stop side-splitting zingers, direct-addresses to the audience, theatrical self-references, split-second timing, and seamless shifts to countless other characters. Included among them is Roberts’ riotous portrayal of author and intelligence officer Ian Fleming, sharing bits of the novel he’s writing about James Bond, the fictional Agent 007, as he flounders over a memorable catch phrase to introduce him, getting laughably close but not quite there.
There are also moments of profound poignancy that leave not a dry eye in the house (and had my eye make-up running down my face), most notably Malone’s beautifully sung heartrending ballad “Dear Bill,” a deeply affecting counterfeit letter Hester was tasked to write to the corpse from his imagined love, with very personal significance to her own wartime experience.
The stylings of the show’s twenty plot-advancing and character-defining musical numbers, with orchestrations by Steve Sidwell and Joe Bunker serving as music director and supervisor, run the gamut from Vaudevillian, swing, and show tunes, to pop, hip-hop, and rap, with a particularly preposterous spoof of singing, dancing, goosestepping, and saluting Nazis, who mime Hitler’s mustache, in “Das Übermensch” – a nod to The Producers, followed by a metatheatrical break questioning the thunderous applause it elicits. Jenny Arnold’s lively choreography is perfectly in tune with the range of musical genres and finds comic inspiration in everything from Broadway chorus lines to Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies” video. Ben Stones’s wide array of costumes and efficiently transitioning set capture the personalities, era, and locations, enhanced with lighting by Mark Henderson and sound by Mike Walker. All the wackiness concludes with “A Glitzy Finale” that showers the house with confetti, explains the subterfuge of Montagu (suspected by her colleagues of taking classified documents from the office), and brings the story home with unabashed dazzle.
While Operation Mincemeat delivers the outlandish humor with panache it also honors the people who served, including Glyndwr Michael, the homeless 34-year-old Welshman whose body was used to save the world from Nazi domination. That’s a win-win-win, for musical theater, history, and humanity.
Running Time: Approximately two hours and 35 minutes, including an intermission.
Operation Mincemeat plays through Sunday, February 15, 2026, at the John Golden Theatre, 252 West 45th Street, NYC. For tickets (priced at $59-499, including fees), go online.
