Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical Reviews

Chicago Tribune - Recommended

"...All in all, “Operation Mincemeat,” which is the communal comedic creation of David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson and Zoë Roberts, otherwise known as the comedy troupe SpitLip, is one of those shows with feverishly enthusiastic fans even though it is not for everyone."

Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended

"...Impressively faithful to the facts of true historical Operation Mincemeat, the musical centers around characters at MI-5, the British spy agency. An Allied invasion of Sicily is on the horizon, to gain a foothold to retake mainland Europe. The spies hope to fool the Nazis into thinking the attack will come through Sardinia instead so that they will move troops out of Sicily and make it easier to take."

Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended

"...Even before the 2021 film of the same title, the musical Operation Mincemeat was giving its own madcap spin to the 1943 British undercover operation that became a textbook case for military deception and misdirection. Creators David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson, and Zoe Roberts first premiered the show in 2019 as the debut production of their comedy company, SpitLip, in a production off the West End in London. It ended up transferring to the West End and eventually to Broadway, where it earned a 2025 Tony nomination for best musical (losing out to Maybe Happy Ending)."

Let's Play Theatrical Reviews - Highly Recommended

"...Operation Mincemeat is brilliantly choreographed and exquisitely executed, creating an unforgettable experience. For two hours and 35 minutes, this play is engaging and entertaining from the opening curtain."

Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended

"...The story is told comically, and we, the audience, become glued to the story as we see a combination of satire, farce, slapstick, and a spy thriller ( if you read the wiki info, you see that Ian Fleming himself was part of this mission, so why not? The musical pieces help to move the story along, and I doubt that anyone left the theater humming any of them, but they did leave the theater with smiles on their faces as they had just witnessed a truly solid production performed by five amazing actors."

Chicago Theatre Review - Highly Recommended

"...From the unusual title to the bizarre television commercials advertising the show, OPERATION MINCEMEAT certainly wasn’t on my list of must-see musicals. Well, it most definitely is now! Anywhere this show is playing, I will be in the audience. And may I recommend that OPERATION MINCEMEAT should be on the must-see list of 1.) every musical theatre lover, 2.) all fans of wacky British humor and 3.) for every true history aficionado in Chicagoland. OPERATION MINCEMEAT is absolutely a brilliant musical comedy, and it should definitely not be missed."

Buzz Center Stage - Recommended

"...Director Robert Hastie and choreographer Jenny Arnold build that story out of controlled theatrical chaos. Many of the funniest sequences have the spirit of “Make ’Em Laugh”: fast, physical bits driven by props and exaggerated reactions. Some jokes get a wonderfully disproportionate amount of production value – “Monty the Musical,” for example, is infinitely funnier because the show commits so completely to the bit."

The Fourth Walsh - Highly Recommended

"...It’s 1943. British Intelligence needs a plan to bring down Hitler. When the hapless Charles Cholmondeley gets pushed aside and the cocky Ewen Montagu gets rejected, an improbable scheme makes an unlikely comeback. The duo want to plant a corpse with fake Top Secret documents to divert the Nazis from Italy. The idea has flashes of “Hogan Heroes” meets “Weekend at Bernies.” It’s so preposterous…. it just might work. Based on a true story, OPERATION MINCEMEAT is a comedy thriller set to music. It’s the guidebook to fighting tyranny with ingenuity, laughter, and a lot of dumb luck."

Chicagoland Musical Theatre - Highly Recommended

"...A British fringe sensation-turned-commercial smash on both sides of the pond, ‘Mincemeat’—devised by David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson, and Zoë Roberts—seems to have no choice but to frame this story in a no-tricks no-frills black-box production, the ensemble of five (Mariah Copeland, Katie Klieger, Luke Antony Neville, Erin Ramirez, and Jake Bentley Young) zip-zap-zopping between their anchoring roles as the brains behind the operation as well as a whole host of others."

Third Coast Review - Not Recommended

"...The tale has been retold often and with great enthusiasm. MI5 agent Ewen Montagu published his memoir in 1953; Hollywood followed with the 1956 Clifton Webb vehicle The Man Who Never Was; multiple documentaries have revisited the caper’s improbable mechanics; Ben Macintyre’s 2010 book Operation Mincemeat renewed interest; and the 2021 Colin Firth film brought the tale back into the cultural bloodstream. The Tony?nominated, Olivier?winning Operation Mincemeat, now in town on its U.S. tour, is the latest entry in this lineage — a Fringe?style romp built on the irresistible appeal of a scheme so bizarre it practically demands another retelling."

Chicago On Stage - Highly Recommended

"...Earlier this week, after an unexpectedly dark, miserably rainy day had kept me indoors, my son North and I ventured into the Loop to see the Olivier and Tony Award winning musical Operation Mincemeat, which tells the true story of an MI-5 operation that faked the Germans into believing that the Allies were going to invade Sardinia instead of Sicily. They did this by dressing up a transient’s corpse as an Air Force major, creating an elaborate false identity for him, and sending him off to wash up on the Spanish coast along with falsified documents outlining the alleged plans the Brits had."

PicksInSix - Recommended

"...The musical—a mix of “Hamilton,” and “Monty Python” with a British spin of “Hogan’s Heroes” and much more—could be a royal farce of a send-up to a classic spy thriller if it was not essentially a true story about the 1943 team who had a significant impact on the outcome of World War II. The two British intelligence officers leading the charge–Charles Cholmondeley (Jake Bentley Young) and Ewen Montagu (Katie Kleiger)—developed the plan that was far from perfect, but it worked well enough to give the Allies the decisive edge in the critical invasion of Sicily."

Curtain Call Chicago - Recommended

"...Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical turns one of World War II’s most improbable acts of espionage into a funny, fast paced and sometimes tender evening of theater. No wonder it was a winner of awards on Broadway and in the West End. Mincemeat makes a persuasive case that a musical about a corpse planted with forged papers can be both a raucous farce and deeply human story about the overlooked people through times of war whose labor—and sacrifice—makes history."

Chicago Culture Authority - Recommended

"...This antic production tells the story of a bizarre real-life British intelligence operation that helped turn the tide of World War II against the Nazis by floating a corpse onto the coast of Spain with a briefcase stuffed with fake plans for an invasion of Sardinia. After German spies lifted the briefcase, the phony documents were reviewed by Hitler’s best and brightest, who ordered a disastrous troop movement that enabled the Allied Forces to capture Sicily with ease."

NewCity Chicago - Highly Recommended

"...Poking fun at the Nazis has been a favorite American pastime for eighty years, but poking fun at the Allies… turns out, is also fun! “Operation Mincemeat,” billed as “a new musical,” borrows theater conventions from throughout its history, from vaudeville to “Hamilton.” It’s the product of British musical comedy troupe SpitLip (David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson and Zoë Roberts). Based on the true story of an MI5 mission to hide the 1943 Allied invasion of Sicily from Nazi intelligence, the musical is a slap-happy comedy played by five incredible performers, who swap between numerous roles regardless of the character’s age or gender."