Review: Operation Mincemeat at Wolverhampton Grand Theatre

★★★★★

Olivier Award-winning Best New Musical, Operation Mincemeat, air-drops in to Wolverhampton Grand Theatre for one week only. Based on an unbelievably true WWII story, the year is 1943 and Britain might be losing the war but British Intelligence have a wild plan that might just save the day. Fabricated documents, love letters, and a corpse are dropped off the Spanish coast, designed to mislead the Nazis, and divert their attention away from Sicily in the screwball secret mission that won us World War II.

A musical comedy with book, music and lyrics by David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson and Zoë Roberts, the show's plot is based on the real Operation Mincemeat, which also inspired a feature film of the same name; taking some liberties for the sake of entertainment, of course. This chaotic story that features deception, unexpected twists and turns, deliriously-genius schemes, and Ian Fleming (yes of James Bond novel-writing fame) lends itself brilliantly to musical adaptation.

Re-imagining the saga in a captivating and humorous production, Operation Mincemeat takes on a unique piece of history, re-telling it with lively tunes and a battle of sharp wits. Joining a tradition of storytelling that keeps history alive, Operation Mincemeat brings the tale to a new generation, much like other musicals before it including SIX, Hamilton and Newsies.

Setting the scene with an elaborately designed top-secret war rooms set design (Ben Stones), the plot for the majority of Operation Mincemeat takes place within MI5, as a plan of deception is put together.

Bringing to life the real lives and real stories are a small cast, with just five lead actors who depict one of the lead characters as well as a plethora of others; Holly Sumpton/ Katy Ellis as Ewen Montagu & others, Séan Carey/ Morgan Phillips as Charles Cholmondeley & others, Jamie-Rose Monk/Georgina Hagen as Johnny Bevan & others, Christian Andrews/Jordan Pearson as Hester Leggatt & others, and Charlotte Hanna-Williams/Katy Ellis as Jean Leslie & others. These actors appear as countless characters; swapping roles, genders, costuming and hats, often mid-number in clever choreography that adds to the layers of chaos, deception and humour of this madcap story.

This talented cast embody each of their characters with subtle changes to movement, voice and other acting choices, that clearly define one character from another, despite the speed with which they are often moving from one to another. The vocals too are spot on, with great diction, which is especially important in this production given how wordy many of the storytelling songs are.

The choreography (Jenny Arnold), with its military precision, marches throughout the production allowing for character swapping misdirection to be laced through the script as well as storytelling songs.

Operation Mincemeat features a memorable score that reflects much of the characterisation with contemporary pop music indicating younger characters, while big brass band music or soft, emotional piano numbers are used to tell the stories of older characters.

There are songs that take influence from a wide range of sources including sea shanties in Sail On, Boys, and songs that emulate the upbeat swing music of the era. Others songs offer more modern influences such as the empowering feminist-style anthem All the Ladies, and the club banger style, Das Übermencsh, which is reminiscent of SIX’s Haus of Holbein in style. In fact, there are many songs in this production that could easily sit side-by-side with songs from SIX on your musicals playlist.

A musical of humanity, Operation Mincemeat re-tells an inspiring and fascinating tale of history, with humour and heart. There is no rationing of comedy in this production, filling it with brilliant one-liners and physical comedy that ensure that this is a story you won’t be forgetting any time soon. The show’s Glitzy Finale also offers moments of commentary on modern politics from the resurgence of fascism across the U.S.A. and wider world, to observations on the linguistics of immigration vs expats in British vocabulary.

The intel is in, and Operation Mincemeat is a fantastically fast-paced, fun and camply comedic music. Absolutely not a SNAFU!

Operation Mincemeat plays at Wolverhampton Grand Theatre until Saturday 21^st March, with matinee and evening performances available throughout the week. So, pull up a sandbag and enjoy this fascinating historical musical.

The national tour of Operation Mincemeat will also be playing at Stoke-on-Trent's Regent Theatre, The Alexandra Birmingham, Royal & Derngate Northampton, and Theatre Royal Nottingham.

This review is written following a press invite to the show.