Smash-hit musical Operation Mincemeat heading back to Milton Keynes
One of the most acclaimed shows of the decade to head back on tour following demand
Madcap musical Operation Mincemeat is returning to Milton Keynes following its popular run in the city earlier this year.
Five actors play more than 80 roles in the comical and fast-paced musical, which is about an MI5 plan to fool the Nazis about where an Allied invasion of Italy was to occur in the Second World War. The plot involved planting misleading invasion plans on the body of an Allied pilot who had supposedly crashed into the sea off the coast of Nazi-infested Spain – which means the MI5 spymasters had to procure a body, find a way to drop it in Spanish waters with the fake plans, wait for the Nazis to discover the body — and hope they fell for the ruse.
Operation Mincemeat began as small, low-budget production at the London Fringe New Diorama Theatre in 2019. The show quickly gained a devoted following. It finally premiered in the West End in 2023 at the Fortune Theatre, where it won the Olivier and WhatsOnstage Awards for Best New Musical.
It then proved a success on Broadway, where it was nominated for four Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and won Best Featured Actor in a Musical.
Operation Mincemeat has been a huge hit with critics, garnering 181 five-star reviews and counting. The critic for the New York Times wrote: “It's not just the best musical I've ever seen; it's the most rewarding theatrical experience I've ever had.” Metro called it “both spiffingly funny, in a Monty Python-esque fashion, and really quite moving”. The Telegraph described it as "the perfect mix of ingenious, silly and moving”. The Mirror hailed it as “a miraculous musical that tells the entire story in a kind of accelerated farce that is part Mel Brooks, part Six, part Hamilton with a side order of One Man, Two Guvnors.” The Washington Post said: "The Brits have made the year's funniest musical.”
The show went on tour in the UK earlier this year, selling 290,000 tickets sold and notching more than 20 weeks of sold-out shows so far. It’s proven so popular that it’s going back out on tour next year.
Operation Mincemeat is written by David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson and Zoë Roberts and directed by deputy artistic director at the National Theatre, Olivier Award nominated Robert Hastie.
Roberts said: “There’s something really joyful in the success of ‘Mincemeat,’ and that has been the breadth of the age ranges, the backgrounds, the genders who enjoy it, and that's great.”
The news of the tour’s extension comes as the world tour continues its global journey, with the North American leg launching this month September, before travelling on to Australia, China, Mexico and New Zealand, spanning four continents. Alongside the world tour, Operation Mincemeat continues its West End run at the Fortune Theatre, with its recently announced 19th extension taking the production through to May 2027 and into its fifth year, while the Broadway production at the Golden Theatre enters its third year.
It will run at Milton Keynes Theatre from Tuesday March 2 to Saturday March 6, 2027. Visit atgtickets.com/MiltonKeynes to book.