Operation Mincemeat - New Diorama/SWP/Riverside/Fortune

Great review fiyerorocher

Although I thought Velvet gave us punters a bit of chance to breathe

I have finally had time to process this show and I have a lot of thoughts that people in real life are very tired of hearing, so here they are to bore online people too!:

This is quite possibly the hardest working cast in London right now. There are five of them, playing dozens of characters between them, and they get very little time off stage over the two and a half hour performance. It's easy to forget that, though, because the energy does not drop for a second and the swaps between characters are so expertly done that it's difficult to believe you're watching the same actor. All of this is achieved with minimal costume changes and no real hair or makeup alternations, because it's all done so fast. Someone puts on a hat and suddenly they're a whole different person. Much like with Come From Away, this is done to wonderful effect. Additionally, some of the cast are playing role of the opposite gender with no attempt to try and hide the fact. The women just put their hair up, and the men are still wearing trousers (for the most part). You never question it - they make it work fantastically. (Also a good way to get more women into a show about a very male-dominated time and space!)

The music of this show is varied and wonderful - some of the catchiest songs I've heard in a new musical for years. Born to Lead and Making a Man are still going round and round in my head. Everything from dubstep to a ballad, with rap and jazz and other kinds of music I can't even name. The sea shanty will stick with you for days. It all fits perfectly to each character or scenario it's written for. If we don't get a cast album of this show, with Natasha Hodgson as Monty, it will be a travesty.

The piece is, admittedly, still not quite perfect. I did see the final preview so there is the potential for things to have changed prior to press night, but I doubt anything was. There are a few instances were lyrics are awkward, and a song or two that could be cut (Let Me Die in Velvet is wonderfully sung, but completely unnecessary), but you only notice things like that because everything else is so sharply honed. The comic timing is impeccable, the cast shine with talent, and the history is crazy enough to seem like fiction.

It's a real shame the first youtube search result for this show is a very critical amateur review - Operation Mincemeat needs more love and another production as soon as this one ends. They could make it bigger, expand the cast and give those five hard-working actors a break, but I think they'd lose something if they did. This works better small, possibly somewhere like the Arts. But just in case there's no where for it to move to, do yourself a favour and go and see it at the Southwark Playhouse before it closes.

I didn't know this was a musical till it started! Have to say it's the best new musical I've seen in years and the cast of five were indeed fantastic, as singers and as performers and as an ensemble.

This really deserves to go up a notch to the Arts or the Ambassadors or somewhere like that. It needs polishing a bit more, bigger cast, maybe tinkering with the second half where it sags a bit before the finale. But I have to say that, for me, it is far more entertaining and has better songs than some big-hitters which have been hogging the West End for years.

Lovely to see a full theatre and a proper standing ovation again.

 I saw it at the New Diorama two years ago, and then again this past week.  While there have been some changes it's not that different ( at least insofar as I remember) .  It's an engaging fun show which balances its different tones quite successfully.  However it's 20 minutes too long. I accept there's a lot of plot to get through but if they're hoping for a "39 Steps" sort of success they need to be a bit ruthless and cut stuff.   Also, the sound mix is awful. There is a ton of information and wit in the lyrics and it often times is just a jumble of words.  It says a lot about the achievement of the show that even missing out on important lyrics really didn't destroy my enthusiasm for it, it just got in the way.  

I don't understand the desire to cut it. It was 2:50 when I saw it, and I wouldn't have wanted to lose a minute. The time whizzed by. Glad I saw it when I did.

Great to see this pretty much sold out! - except for a Tuesday matinee. West End transfer now, please.