Operation Mincemeat
Who up mincing they meat????
Operation Mincemeat is a very silly show that is going to save theater.
Operation Mincemeat is also a WWII top-secret British intelligence plan to plant a dead body on the coast of Spain holding a briefcase detaling a fake invasion of Sardinia, to convince the Nazis to move troops out of Sicily so the allied forces could storm the beaches. And it WORKED. SOMEHOW.
It's like if Spies are forever was Come From Away. Crafted by a tight-knit team who had been creating fringe plays together for years, and it absoltely shows that this was created over a long period of time by a very dedicated group. The timing is impecable, the jokes are incredible, the characterization and physical comedy are the result of so much love and repeated experimentation. I have seen few shows that I am as impressed by the double casting (Murder for Two is another) but an attempt to follow each track in this show makes my head spin. More impressive to me than the writing or the music, the ability to swap characters on a goddam DIME is what tells this story.
It also has suuuuuuuch wonderful gender-bending in the cast. There are no gender lines even when they are playing historical characters. It's even required in the script that Ewen Montagu (a man) be played by a woman, and Hester Leggat (a woman) pbe played by a man, no matter how you change up the rest of the double casting. It's so fun to see them act like a true ensemble. Gender and sex are a blank slate and a good actor is able to embody any character with their particular traits and make it believable.
Before you go any farther go listen to the cast album!!!
SPOILERS ABOUND!!!!
Quotes (funny)
Montagu: "What have you got to lose?"
Bevan: "The war."
Jean: "I’m so sorry Sir, I tried to stop him."
Montagu: "To be fair to her John she did, she gave it a damn good try! Don’t be disheartened by this, I’m impossible to reason with."
Charles: "Now, Spain is rife-"
Montagu: "It's RIFE >:)"
Charles: "-with German spies-"
Montagu: "Doesn’t understand the thrill of the wind in your hair, the fish in your... hands. What a life, eh - the open sea."
Jewel: "It’s a submarine."
Montagu: "The submerged sea."
Montagu: "We bloody DID it Charlie! Tonight, this city is ours - wonderful drinks, fantastic views, beautiful w- tables and chaaaaaiiiirs."
Quotes (lyrics that make my brain happy)
(For full experience say these outloud quietly to yourself. Or loudly, I don't make the rules.)
Montagu: "Look up victory in the diction'ry there's a picture there of me"
Tar: "We’ll shoot him en route / Our pursuit will be fruitful / and The Fuhrer is out cold"
Cholmondeley: "Can we gather a cadaver from the local morgue?"
Hester: "Diana's piano is getting much better - well I say better, I really just mean louder, but as she tells me that's PRETTY MUCH THE SAME" / Well it makes a change from all of the noise and the sirens / and sometimes from all of the silence -
With six rounds of Jingle Bells / And We Wish You A Merry Christmas even though it is June"
Montagu: "Anyway, must dash, Jean awaits me at the Ritz / but can you check if the sweatiest spy in Spain is out fooling fritz?"
Hester: "Some files are missing sir / where they've gone's not quite clear / The loss of each a serious breach / it could end my career! / their contents would fetch a high price for a proffiteer / and I'm beginning to fear someone here's not what they appear!"
