Now this is mostly about a new musical I saw recently, but if you're not interested in musicals, you may be interested in the true story on which it is based
Always on the look out for new musicals, I discovered a show that was being put on in a small (about 55 seats) theatre in London, by Spitlip - a new group of musical writers. The show is called 'Operation Mincemeat' and is based on a true story of a deception mission from World War 2.
The operation sounds absurd - a corpse was delivered to the coast of Spain, with the intention it get recovered by Spanish officials, and the documents he's carrying get into the hands of Hitler, who would hopefully move his troupes from Sicily to Sardinia based on the fake intel, leaving Sicily exposed for allied forces to take Italy.
Wikipedia link to the true story
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mincemeat
The show was brilliant fun. Unfortunately it only had a short run, and yesterday was its last day. But it felt a lot like the sort of theatre that gives a chance to small companies to give them a chance to work on the show. I am hopeful it will get another run at a slightly larger theatre where it can be further refined, not that it needs much work - if anything it would be about expanding the cast - five actors play all the roles, gender swapping and so on. All five members of the cast played their separate parts differently enough that I never got confused about who they were portraying, and each had a big number. Jak Malone (male) had a number as Hester (female) when he sings a letter to what we learn is her man on the front line which is just heartbreaking and performed so well that there isn't any absurd humour of man as a woman. There's also an absurd k-pop like Nazi-Boyband number (in he comedic mould of 'Springtime for Hitler')
Soundcloud page with samples of songs (trout ticklers didn't make the cut, unless it was massively re-worked)
https://soundcloud.com/spitliptheatre
Always on the look out for new musicals, I discovered a show that was being put on in a small (about 55 seats) theatre in London, by Spitlip - a new group of musical writers. The show is called 'Operation Mincemeat' and is based on a true story of a deception mission from World War 2.
The operation sounds absurd - a corpse was delivered to the coast of Spain, with the intention it get recovered by Spanish officials, and the documents he's carrying get into the hands of Hitler, who would hopefully move his troupes from Sicily to Sardinia based on the fake intel, leaving Sicily exposed for allied forces to take Italy.
Wikipedia link to the true story
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mincemeat
The show was brilliant fun. Unfortunately it only had a short run, and yesterday was its last day. But it felt a lot like the sort of theatre that gives a chance to small companies to give them a chance to work on the show. I am hopeful it will get another run at a slightly larger theatre where it can be further refined, not that it needs much work - if anything it would be about expanding the cast - five actors play all the roles, gender swapping and so on. All five members of the cast played their separate parts differently enough that I never got confused about who they were portraying, and each had a big number. Jak Malone (male) had a number as Hester (female) when he sings a letter to what we learn is her man on the front line which is just heartbreaking and performed so well that there isn't any absurd humour of man as a woman. There's also an absurd k-pop like Nazi-Boyband number (in he comedic mould of 'Springtime for Hitler')
Soundcloud page with samples of songs (trout ticklers didn't make the cut, unless it was massively re-worked)
https://soundcloud.com/spitliptheatre
