It started out as a fringe musical about an outlandish war plan - and became a West End and Broadway smash. As the show hits China, Australia and Mexico, its 'nerd' creators explain how they went global with a box of hats and a dream.
Natasha Hodgson is wondering what to make of all the straight women who have developed a crush on her. Or, to put it more accurately, all the straight women who have developed a crush on her when she's dressed as a second world war naval intelligence officer and speaking in a silly voice. But is it really Hodgson these woman have fallen for? Or is it Ewen Montagu, the bombastic, braces-wearing war hero she plays in the hit musical Operation Mincemeat?
"The confusion is real," says Hodgson. "These women come to the show believing themselves to be straight, then they have a total identity crisis. But hey - if that's not what musical theatre is for, I don't know what is!"
Challenging the sexuality of audience members is not the only thing that testifies to the power of Operation Mincemeat. Since it was first performed in 2019, the show has grown from quirky fringe comedy into an unadulterated smash hit both in the West End (sold out for three years and counting) and on Broadway (now on its fifth extension). It has garnered rave reviews and counts Robert De Niro, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Colin Firth, Samuel L Jackson, Steven Spielberg and Queen Camilla among its fans. One "Mincefluencer" (as superfans are called) loves it so much they have been to see it a staggering 201 times at the time of writing.
Next year, this heartwarming British success story will reach another milestone - embarking on a world tour, travelling to China, Australia and Mexico, as well as up and down the UK. And how it all happened is, well, a bit of a miracle. Because while Operation Mincemeat is undoubtedly brilliant, hilarious, moving and astonishing, sometimes all in the space of one dance routine, the story it's based on doesn't exactly scream: "Hit stage musical!"
The actual Operation Mincemeat - which also inspired a much more traditional type of war thriller film in 2021 - was a crack piece of second world war deception. MI5 took the body of homeless Welsh labourer Glyndwr Michael, who had died after eating rat poison, gave him a new name (Major William Martin), armed him with fake plans about an allied invasion of Sardinia and Greece (Sicily was the real target), and deposited his uniformed body on a beach in Huelva, Spain, hoping it would reach German spies.
When I meet SpitLip - AKA Hodgson, David Cumming, Zoë Roberts and composer Felix Hagan - I don't need to ask how they turned such unlikely material into comedy: these old friends from Warwick University have such a warm, buzzy energy they could make any story funny. Cumming remembers the show's first writing sessions when they were so poor they would be "literally cycling on Tash's mum's old exercise bike to keep warm because we couldn't afford heating!"
"All our friends were getting mortgages and having babies and we were existing on Pret sandwiches and anxiety attacks," says Hodgson. "Pret sandwiches?" says Cumming. "More like Tesco!"
After reading everything they could on Operation Mincemeat, the group realised the opportunities were enormous. The Man Who Never Was, the 1953 book by the operation's co-leader, Montagu, gave the impression that, at least for some of Britain's top brass, the second world war could be quite fun, chaps. Then there was the dynamic between Montagu and the true brains of the operation, Charles Cholmondeley. The latter's shy, nerdy persona and adherence to the rulebook offered a perfect contrast to Montagu's swashbuckling disregard.
This didn't just have to be a story about war, they realised. It could be a topical satire on Britain's public school elites as well. As opening number Born to Lead puts it: "For fortune favours bravery / And a fortune's what I've got!" There was also room to explore grief, longing and feminism, with jokes about a newt's penis and a rap about the Third Reich. "Goosestep to the left, jump to the far right!"
Weaving all of this into three hours of song and dance was, of course, challenging. "We'd think, 'Maybe this verse isn't as exciting as it could be'," says Hagan, "but then realise that, because we'd changed it, the entire play now cancels itself out. So we'd have to start all over again."
When it came to performing the show, luxuries such as a director, producer or choreographer were clearly out of the question. In fact, they didn't even have a rehearsal mirror - Roberts remembers practising one dance routine in the reflection of a framed poster on Cumming's kitchen wall. Casting was done over Twitter: Jak Malone and Claire-Marie Hall were recruited, which meant that - alongside Hodgson, Roberts and Cumming - they had five actors. The only problem was that their script had, um, 82 characters.
No problem - they'd just take dozens of roles each! Gendered casting went out the window. "Our main rule was, 'Who is doing it the funniest?'" says Roberts. "Who's doing the silliest voice? Who will look the stupidest in the wig?"
They soon realised that swapping a character's gender helped in interesting ways. "Montagu," says Roberts,"is such an amazing combination of the terrible, terrible things about men at the top of the food chain,but also all of the brilliant things as well -the charisma,the gung-ho energy.We realised that if we cast a guy for that role,it would be hard to get people on his side.But by casting a woman [Hodgson],we get to poke fun."
The same applied to Malone’s portrayal of Hester Leggatt,the demanding matronly woman who runs a tight ship as head of secretaries.The real-life Leggatt was tasked with writing a letter to Martin,supposedly from his fiancee,that was placed in his pocket.The musical draws on lines from actual letter for Dear Bill,a tearjerker about wartime separation.Malone would go on to win a Tony and Olivier for his showstopping performance.
Consequently,the show acquired a "quietly queer" subtext,deliighting (and evidently confusing) audiences along the way.A strong bond between cast and fans formed as the musical started to take off.After successful runs at small and very small venues,the show made its West End debut,taking over from The Woman in Black at the Fortune theatre.The fandom intensified.
"We've learned from the West End run," says Cumming,"that if someone asks you to sign their arm you must ask,'Is this going to be a tattoo?'" "That way we know to write it nicely," says Roberts,"and spell it correctly." "My favourite," says Hodgson,"was being sent some fan fiction set in '70s Week' of The Great British Bake Off,Charles is trying to get his upside-down pineapple cake right when Monty joins him at midnight in the tent and ... sex occurs."
The most astounding act of fandom, however, came when keen musical-goers tracked down Leggatt. For various reasons, including a misspelling on MI5 files, this woman who played such a decisive role in the war had gone unrecognised. Then, in 2023, Leggatt’s great-nephew Will received an email from a mincefluencer and all the dots were swiftly joined. A book, Finding Hester, followed and now the Fortune theatre has a plaque in Leggatt’s honour.
"That was just amazing," says Hodgson."History inspiring art inspiring history."
Cumming: "By far the craziest thing the fans have done."
Hagan: "They had to speak to MI5!"
"And then," says Cumming,"they were able to let the family members know,like,'This was your auntie!'"
Hearteningly,the cast have met relatives of the characters they portray.Hodgson even hangs out with descendants of Montagu.What on earth do they think of her,er,somewhat mixed portrayal? "They love it!" says Hodgson."Bafflingly!" adds Cumming."They've even given me one of his hats," says Hodgson."They were like,'You’re one of the family now.' They’re just so proud of the story. And also, they have a great sense of humour,as you would imagine,from descendants of this man."
"We were always very aware that these are real people," says Cumming."We can't just lie about what they did.We can make them cartoony.But we can't change who they were in their soul.And I think we've captured their essence—which is why the family members haven't sued us!"
As the fanbase grew,so did the musical shape-shift.During Boris Johnson’s premiership,the writers found themselves adding in references “to whatever mad shit he’d said that day” which kept things fresh.“Then,” says Roberts with a laugh,“people started saying to us,’You know there are over 50 people working on this now.You can’t just keep changing things.’”
“It’s really quite incredible that we are on Broadway but our script still says things like,’Hester enters somehow’,” says Hodgson.“Huge apologies to our directors and our actors.”
Back when they were rehearsing using a poster for reflections,it’s safe to say no members of SpitLip were thinking of Mincemeat making it to Broadway.So when it happened earlier this year they went along relocating to New York to perform there.Some critics wondered if American audiences would get the very British humour—but that proved unfounded.
“In fact,” says Hodgson,“we have a line that is basically,’If people like us just blindly follow orders then the fascists won’t need to bash down the door.They’ll have already won.’ In London,the audiences go,’Hmmm.’ Whereas in New York there are huge roars of applause.”
Moving to America did,of course,mean they had to recruit a whole new West End cast of mini versions of themselves.“That’s what we call them!”says Hodgson.This brought its own challenges.“You’ve got to make sure that these people can completely transform into 30 characters,”says Roberts.“The audition pack we send out to these poor people is huge,because they could be an amazing Jean Leslie [the talented young woman from the secretarial department],but if they can’t transform into an 80-year-old man in Huelva clowning around with a phone then it won’t work.”
Christian Andrews who has played various Operation Mincemeat parts during the West End run can attest to this。“It was quite scary，”他说。“小丑角色感觉很适合我，但安静的赫斯特让我很有挑战性。能够自己解决这个问题真不错。”
Performing night after night is，难免，疲惫不堪。罗伯茨说，他们对新节目的想法“正在酝酿”，并且在某个时候他们将需要转向那些。但是无论Mincemeat巨轮发生什么，现有节目、英国巡演和全球扩张，她相信SpitLip将保持本质不变。“我们将永远是这四个带着一箱帽子和一个梦想的书呆子，”她说，“为人们上演一场小小的表演，希望它能顺利进行。”