Last night (February 16) saw the launch of the Operation Mincemeat World Tour, opening with the first performance of a two-week run at Lowry – the venue that first encouraged the writers’ extraordinary debut musical and hosted its first-ever scratch performance in 2017 – kicking off its 40-week UK leg of the tour.
The cast took their first bows to a standing ovation in Lowry’s Lyric Theatre, marking the biggest stage the show has ever played, and were greeted with hundreds of yellow roses from fans.
From Salford, the production will tour theatres across the UK before travelling to four continents, with stops in the USA, Australia, Canada, China, Mexico and New Zealand.
Operation Mincemeat is now playing simultaneously in London, on tour across the UK, and in New York.
In Operation Mincemeat, it’s 1943, and the Allied Forces are on the ropes. Luckily, they’ve got a trick up their sleeve. Well, not up their sleeve, per se, but rather inside the pocket of a stolen corpse. Equal parts farce, thriller, and Ian Fleming-style spy caper (with an assist from Mr. Fleming himself), Operation Mincemeat tells the wildly improbable and hilarious true story of the covert operation that turned the tide of WWII.
Reprising their acclaimed roles, West End alumnae Christian Andrews, Seán Carey, Charlotte Hanna-Williams and Holly Sumpton are joined by new recruit Jamie-Rose Monk to form the cast, while Katy Ellis, Georgina, Jordan Pearson and Morgan Phillips complete the company.
The show is directed by Robert Hastie with Jenny Arnold as Choreographer. Ben Stones as Set and Costume Designer, Mark Henderson as Lighting Designer and Mike Walker as Sound Designer. Steve Sidwell is Orchestrator and Vocal Arranger, Joe Bunker is Musical Supervisor, Sam Sommerfeld is Musical Director, Georgie Staight is Tour Director, Anna Marshall is Resident Director and Paul Isaiah Isles is Associate Choreographer. Casting is by Pearson Casting.
Operation Mincemeat is written and composed by SpitLip – David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson and Zoë Roberts, a quartet of young British creatives after years of performing sketch shows at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Operation Mincemeat began as a tiny (and tiny-budgeted) production at the London Fringe New Diorama Theatre in 2019. The show quickly gained a devoted following, spurring sold-out runs at venues including Southwark Playhouse and Riverside Studios.
It finally premiered in the West End on 9th May 2023 at the Fortune Theatre, where it won the Olivier and WhatsOnstage Awards® for ‘Best New Musical’, alongside garnering 88 five-star reviews and counting, and has become the ‘Best reviewed show in West End history.’
Operation Mincemeat is produced in the West End, on tour, and on Broadway by Avalon (in association with SpitLip). The show was commissioned by New Diorama Theatre, co-commissioned by the Lowry, and also supported by the Rhinebeck Writers Retreat.