Is Operation Mincemeat “Too British” for Broadway? The West End Hit Plots Its Course to New York
Operation Mincemeat has its eyes on a cross-Atlantic journey – but has made a refreshingly frank appeal in the process.
The show, which won the WhatsOnStage Award for Best New Musical and two Olivier Awards (including Best New Musical), sent out an email to its mailing list this week suggesting that “significant investors and producers” in the United States are concerned that that the show is “too British.”
Charting a slightly ludicrous MI5 plot to use a deceased body in order to trick the Nazis into faked invasion plans, the show continues to wow audiences at the Fortune Theatre, where it has extended eight times so far (and will likely do so again).
Of course, Broadway is invariably more expensive than the West End. Admitting the show cost £2 million in London versus $13.5 million in New York, producers go on to explain. “But here is the truth… The Broadway industry is split. Some people, including significant investors and producers say the show is ‘too British,’ and some that Broadway has become too expensive. Our supporters, including many American press and public don’t agree – and think the show will go gang-busters.”
The show has also explained how its American following has grown. “On our side – we’re looking at the stats: a year ago, two per cent of our London audience was American… Today we’re up to 11 per cent. We’ve been extended eight times, we’re up to 69 five-star reviews – more than any show in West End history – and recently we picked up two Olivier Awards… Listen. We really want to bring the show to Broadway. But we need the American ticket-buying public to tell us – is the show ‘too British’ or can we join the ranks of Six, Billy Elliot, Les Mis, Me and My Girl and Oliver!… to name but a few that have successfully crossed the pond?”
For any Americans reading this now, feel free to have your say.
Written and composed by David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson and Zoë Roberts of SpitLip, the musical comedy is based on a true story of the twisted secret mission that helped win World War II. It had developmental runs at the New Diorama Theatre in 2019 and Southwark Playhouse in 2020, 2021 and 2022, with an extended Riverside Studios run last summer.
The West End cast currently includes Cumming, Claire-Marie Hall, Hodgson, Jak Malone, Roberts, Seán Carey, Geri Allen, Christian Andrews, and Holly Sumpton.
The production is helmed by director Robert Hastie, who provided directorial support for the Riverside Studios run, and choreographed by Jenny Arnold.
The creative team also includes Ben Stones as set and costume designer, Mark Henderson as lighting designer, Mike Walker as sound designer, Steve Sidwell as orchestrator and vocal arranger, and Georgie Staight as associate director.
