# The musical “Operation Mincemeat”, like the original Operation Mincemeat, is…

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-musical-operation-mincemeat-like-the-original-operation-mincemeat-is/1031123>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [June 23, 2026, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-musical-operation-mincemeat-like-the-original-operation-mincemeat-is/1031123 "2026-06-23T01:41:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\
**Post date:** [June 23, 2026, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-musical-operation-mincemeat-like-the-original-operation-mincemeat-is/1031123/1 "2026-06-23T01:41:05Z")

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…a brilliantly planned and superbly executed breathtakingly complex and immensely successful endeavor, all arduously constructed around a rotting lifeless hulk.

In the case of the musical, the rotting lifeless hulk is the mindless frivolity with which the real-life WWII events and individuals are travestied for a comic romp. Mind you, I’m all in favor of humorous modern retellings of history, I enjoyed _Hamilton_, but I felt that here it just did not work effectively.

The Ian Fleming jokes were funny because Fleming is already something of a parody cartoon figure in popular consciousness. Trying to apply the same treatment to the other historical MI5ers just felt rather cringe. (How’s it land once you know that the real-life Ewen Montagu was Jewish, for instance?)

And the couple moments of easy sentimentality, about the faked love letter and about the dead pauper (whose posthumous incarnation as a nonexistent British officer does NOT count as “service”, sorry), felt opportunistic and over-milked.

And that was before it all went luvvie at the end. Showbiz people just have to make it all about showbiz, don’t they?

Anyway, I realize that this hot take on a widely acclaimed Tony contender (which, I repeat, was brilliantly accomplished by an absolutely superb ensemble cast) is likely to be very much a minority opinion, so demolish at will.

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**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\
**Post date:** [June 23, 2026, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-musical-operation-mincemeat-like-the-original-operation-mincemeat-is/1031123/2 "2026-06-23T02:45:32Z")

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I don’t care much for musicals in general, so I’ll not dispute you here.