**** There is nothing like an English comedy. It is even better as a musical, and even better if it is based on an actual event. Thus we look at “Operation Mincemeat”, with a book, music & lyrics by David Cumming, Felix Hagag, Natasha Hodgon, and Zoe Roberts. While the musical, richly directed by Robert Hastie with some slick choreography by Jenny Arnold, appears to be a farcical look at World War II events and feels like it should be Monty Python or Mr. Bean, it is in fact, a factual ( with some theatrical altitude) look at some real events, as shown below from Wikipedia:

Operation Mincemeat was a successful British deception operation of the Second World War to disguise the 1943 Allied invasion of Sicily. Two members of British intelligence obtained the body of Glyndwr Michael, a tramp who died from eating rat poison, dressed him as an officer of the Royal Marines and placed personal items on him identifying him as the fictitious Captain (Acting Major) William Martin. Correspondence between two British generals that suggested that the Allies planned to invade Greece and Sardinia, with Sicily as merely the target of a feint, was also placed on the body.

Part of the wider Operation Barclay, Mincemeat was based on the 1939 Trout memo, written by Rear Admiral John Godfrey, the director of the Naval Intelligence Division, and his personal assistant, Lieutenant Commander Ian Fleming. With the approval of the British prime minister, Winston Churchill, and the American military commander in the Mediterranean, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the plan began by transporting the body to the southern coast of Spain by submarine and releasing it close to shore, where it was picked up the following morning by a Spanish fisherman. The nominally neutral Spanish government shared copies of the documents with the Abwehr, the German military intelligence organisation, before returning the originals to the British. Forensic examination showed they had been read and Ultra decrypts of German messages showed that the Germans fell for the ruse. German reinforcements were shifted to Greece and Sardinia before and during the invasion of Sicily; Sicily received none.

There is a lot more to the story, but the creation of this musical and the truly wonderful talent that is on the stage at The CIBC Theatre, is what it should be all about. Five glorious performers play a multitude of roles to tell this story in under 2 1/2 hours, including 1 intermission, that will delight you and amuse you.  While it may be difficult to tell this story in a way that makes one feel good, they do just that.

The five performers are Katie Kleiger as Montagu ( and many more), Mariah Copeland as Johnny Bevan ( and many more), Erin Ramirez as Jean Leslie ( and many more), Jake Bentley Young as Charles Cholmondeley ( and others), and Luke Anthony Neville as Hester Leggatt ( and others). I must tell you that I was quite impressed with Young’s comic timing and his work with Kleiger in their scenes was terrific. Neville’s ability to change his physical appearance and his agility is amazing.

All five of these performers are of high quality in regards to being able to change their characters within seconds, often without even doing a costume change. In fact, one of the highlights of the production, for me, is that the actors leave one scene as one character, go offstage and come right back as a new character, and we never have a moment without action. You have all heard the expression “timing is everything”, well this group of performers, under the guidance of Hastie, proves this to be quite factual.

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.

On the tech side, the lighting (Mark Henderson), sound (Mike Walker) and set ( Ben Stones, who also did the costumes) were all perfect I don’t know how many backstage people were on hand for quick costume changes and movement of set pieces, but they were smooth and very quick. Some of the set pieces were handled by the cast members ( as if they didn’t have enough to do) as well. If you are ready to have a blast at the theater while learning a little history, then make a date to see this show before it leaves.

“Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical” will continue Thru – Oct 11th with performances as follows: