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
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atasha 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.
