#operation mincemeat god that's brilliant

[smartcookie27]

This had to be done.

[duchess-doodles]

He spits out errors! He pukes up lies! He's the kind of con man we despise!!

It's Billsbury! Billsbury!

that p̪̀ho͎nỹ̨

Bil̊͘lne̡r͔̒d͎ ͍Bi̯ͦl̸̕lͨs̘̩b̄̊u͖ͅry!ͤ

[daveyswife]

I cannot tell whether I’m attracted to Natasha Hodgson as Ewen Montagu as a man or as a woman and somehow that makes it even better

[mistressneo]

hello i animated some montlie that probably doesn't make much sense to this song because it's such an adorable song omg ok bye xx

[alexwlchan]

“We send in a robot” “That’s illegal!”

in the world of Operation Mincemeat, MI5 have taken a strong stance against generative AI and automation

it's illegal for a robot to take a job that can be done by a human

[thelesbiandeli]

Every Operation Mincemeat recording I could find :D

This started as a list for myself, but I thought I'd share to save other people the hours of scrounging youtube for clips XD

Born To Lead:

Olivier Awards 2024 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJRhdPsVqsA (Original Cast)

West End Live 2024 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJJOVoIvsKU

The Queens Reading Room Literary Festival 2024 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1lkcPxgbOs (Two songs, Unofficial recording)

God That's Brilliant:

West End Live 2023 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70Q5ljDokFA (Original cast, Small introductory scene)

West End Live 2023 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoegZ3EeHHc (Original cast, Small introductory scene, Unofficial recording)

Musical Con 2023 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyzR7__elbE (Original cast, Unofficial recording)

Musical Con 2023 - https://www.youtube.com/shorts/FaXa4YL-2Hg (Original Cast, Short Clip)

The Queens Reading Room Literary Festival 2024 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1lkcPxgbOs (Two songs, Unofficial recording)

Dear Bill:

D-Day 80 at the Albert Hall - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ar3w0yEsOv4 (Christian Andrews)

Fortune Theatre - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1j9cyCEPxQ (Jak Malone, Unofficial recording)

Spilsbury Reprise:

Fortune Theatre - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pY3b-PaDms (Original Cast, Small scene in the middle, Unofficial recording)

Useful:

Musical Con 2023 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnT8FnOv4Qg (Original cast, Unofficial recording)

Bonus Stuff:

Big Night of Musicals 2024 Featurette - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZ7hUMwmTxA (Cast interview, Jak Malone talking about his quickchanges, and clips from various songs)

Bows - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buE2yJ-Q9qQ

Ending bows jump - https://www.youtube.com/shorts/NZALj25D4Hg (Original cast, Short clip)

Operation Mincemeat wins Best New Musical at the Olivier Awards 2024 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jY5gj9VVyo

Jak Malone wins Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical at the Olivier Awards 2024 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDpwLeIN8WA

Hester Plaque Unveiling - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsVS4J1Yj0I (Speeches from the cast)

Hester Plaque Unveiling - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8oiRnZaRWg (Sky News Coverage)

[multifandom-aroace]

I am obsessed with operation mincemeat so I'm going to list my favourite songs/ moments

All of the harmonies/ overlapping voices because there are only five people singing it doesn't get too confusing and sounds amazing

It's actually funny

All the songs are good - there are lots of musicals that there are a few songs that I really like but the rest I don't. For this one, I love every single song

Jean - every single time she sings I am in awe

The songs are so catchy

DEAR BILL

'penny for me governor?' 'what century are you in?' 'YAYYYY'

Monty in the glitzy finale

The way they changed between scenes in just for tonight - SO SMOOTH

My absolute favourite songs (I love all of them though) - born to lead, God that's brilliant, all the ladies, making a man, DEAR BILL, just for tonight, das ubermensch, act as if, glitzy finale

THIS MUSICAL IS SO AMAZING OMG

[neroushalvaus]

My favourite things in Operation Mincemeat (I've sadly only listened to the cast recording since it's not possible for me to travel to Britain right now and there is no bootleg yet anywhere to be found):

The gender-indifferent casting is done so well. I don't even mean this like gender doesn't matter in Mincemeat, it certainly does, but Ewen Montagu being played by a woman works so well and you completely forget about the actor's gender when listening to him. The same goes for Hester Leggett, she is the perfect archetype of a prim and proper older englishwoman, while being played by a young man. Gender truly is a performance, huh.

Montagu and Cholmondeley have this wonderful Bialystock and Bloom vibe going for them.

All of Born to Lead and God, That's Brilliant... The utter conviction the MI5 guys have in them being God's gifts to British espionage and the best most special boys in Britain... "‘Cause if you’re in trouble, don’t scream and shout – Just call the English public school boys; we’ll sort it all out!"

Sir Bernard Spilsbury in all his ghastly glory. "If you're after buckets of gore, here's Brian, he's basically a lung in a drawer" "NO!!" "...it's just Brian"

Dear Bill.. Just... One of the songs of all time. I don't have to talk about it because everyone loves it. An absolute gut punch of a song.

Something about the individualist thinking exercised by Montagu and the other MI5 boys contrasted with the team spirit of the submarine crew.

"Goose-step to the left, jump to the far right" 😐

Even though Useful is uplifting, it's also heartbreaking. Something about both Jean and Hester thinking about how they'd like to be honored for their service, Jean wanting medals and statues and the King recognizing her efforts, Hester wanting something small and sensible... Something about one wanting everything and the other wanting so little and them both settling for nothing. "No medals, no statues, no plaques, no flowers for Hester and Jean"

Montagu telling Cholmondeley about how you get "morons" to do what you ask by telling them how smart they are, only for Jean to do the exact same thing to him.

How the musical ends by actually giving Glyndwr his name and identity back... I know it doesn't really change anything, it doesn't make his story any less sad, but if no one mourned Glyndwr Michael when he died, I am glad people are at least crying now.

[weareyour4]

God, Operation Mincemeat is Brilliant! - Jen S

There’s a new show taking London’s West End by storm and what a show it is! Operation Mincemeat is a new musical by award-winning musical theatre makers, Natasha Hodgson, Zoë Roberts, David Cumming and Felix Hagan, collectively known as SpitLip. It follows the real story of a group working for British Intelligence who come up with an utterly wild strategy to trick Hitler and help win us World War ll. It’s fast-paced, silly and very, very funny – a perfect tone for such a farcical true story.

Having previously been performed at London’s New Diorama Theatre (2019) and Southwark Playhouse (2020, 2021, 2022), followed by an extended run at Riverside Studios (2022), this exciting new musical has made its way to the Fortune Theatre in the West End and is growing stronger every day. Opening on 29th March this year, the show has extended multiple times due to popular demand and is currently booking until 4th November.

Fans of the show are passionate, with some saying that they have seen the show 30+ times. This has led to Operation Mincemeat now offering a Loyalty scheme to show their appreciation for the support. If you have seen the show multiple times, you can head over to the Operation Mincemeat website and fill in a form to apply for £10 off per ticket for a group of 6 or more patrons (subject to availability.)

This is one of the things which makes me so happy for the creators of Operation Mincemeat – they care about their audience. When creating the show, as far back as 2018, they uploaded videos of what they were working on, to their SpitLip YouTube channel, asking for feedback on their working progress songs and sharing with their audience, challenges they were facing with the making of Operation Mincemeat. This is all content which isn’t usually shared, as creatives often like to keep things on the down-low until they are fully happy with their work. SpitLip, on the other hand, are collaborators and when watching Operation Mincemeat, I was struck by how much I felt that in the theatre.

I’ve tried to express what I mean to friends and family, but Operation Mincemeat just feels different. When watching it, I felt like I was as much a part of the show as I was watching the show. The atmosphere in the theatre was nothing but positive, with audience members around me spilling compliment after compliment about how original and creative the show is. With a cast of only five actors, something else which is special for this show is the fans’ support and enthusiasm for the understudies. Unfortunately, in theatre, there can be negativity towards understudies generally, when an audience member attends the show expecting to see a particular actor, but they see an understudy instead. Not at Operation Mincemeat. Fans are so supportive of every cast member that a bingo sheet has been created, so that fans who see the show multiple times can tick off the different combinations of cast members they have seen perform together.

I have seen the main original cast in the show (Natasha Hodgson, Zoë Roberts, David Cumming, Claire-Marie Hall and Jak Malone) twice (so far) and both times, something went awry. Of course, in live performance, things can go wrong at any time, but the important thing is how the actors react and I felt truly honoured to witness how they dealt with it.

At my first viewing, it was just a simple misthrow of a hat. Not a big deal – they just threw it again and moved on. My second viewing, however, saw something which I loved with all my heart – probably the greatest moment I’ve ever seen in a theatre. Three actors were on-stage (Natasha Hodgson, David Cumming and Claire-Marie Hall), their characters having a discussion, when suddenly, Hester (Jak Malone) swung the door wide open, loudly and confidently making their entrance. The three looked at Jak. Jak looked at the three. Natasha broke the silence, “you’ve come in a bit early, Hester, I think.” The audience were suddenly beside themselves, realising that Jak had mistakenly entered the scene too early and we all watched as he slowly backed away, closing the door behind him. The three continued where they left off, only to be greeted by Jak re-entering a few lines later from the wrong entrance. Natasha, “there isn’t even a door there.” It was utterly hilarious and I was nothing but impressed by how the actors dealt with the situation. This is a funny musical and that was a naturally funny moment, so why not use it? The audience’s laugh was nothing but supportive and only brought us closer to the piece. It was a rare genuine moment in theatre, where the actors were just playing and what a breath of fresh air it was.

Another breath of fresh air, was my experience meeting the cast. Typically, I don’t go to stage doors after shows any more, partly because I don’t want to take up their time when they’re tired and busy. On this day, however, I was meeting a friend after the show, who was running late and as I was standing close to the stage door, the cast started coming out. I figured that this would be a natural opportunity to tell the cast how much I loved their show and I cannot tell you how impressed I was by the experience. Despite having less than two hours between their matinee and evening shows, the cast took as much time as was needed to speak to everyone personally, signing programmes and chatting about the show. It was the most chilled, personal stage door experience I’ve ever had, with actors who were nothing but grateful that people wanted to share how much the show meant to them. They were a great group of people and I even had the extra joy of meeting Jak’s Italian Greyhound, Dracula.

Every time something good comes their way – an extended run or yet another 5-star review - it brings me such joy, knowing that a group of friends who made their own musical have seen it go from strength to strength. It’s so rare that happens and I am truly thrilled for them. I can only hope that it’s around for many years to come – I’ll be cheering them on all the way.

Treat yourself to Operation Mincemeat tickets and have a great day!

[starkiddreamcasting]

Starkid Operation Mincemeat

God that's brilliant! It's the long-awaited Starkid dreamcast for the new hit musical Operation Mincemeat! If you were wondering where I was last week the answer is doing a production of Mean Girls in the day and an online class at night, but I'll try to keep up more with this stuff in the future. For now enjoy this small yet highly anticipated dreamcast!

Meredith Stepien as Ewen Montagu & Others

James Tolbert as Charles Cholmondeley, Doctor Pobil & Others

Jon Matteson as Hester Leggett, Bernard Spilsbury, Captain Jewell, Willie Watkins, Ivor Montagu & Others

Ali Gordon as Jean Leslie, Steve & Others

Lauren Lopez as Johnny Bevan, Ian Fleming, Haselden & Others

Understudies: Tyler Brunsman (Charles Cholmondeley, Hester Leggett), Mariah Rose Faith (Ewen Montagu, Jean Leslie Johnny Bevan), Davis Hamilton (Charles Cholmondeley, Hester Leggett), Tiffany Williams (Ewen Montagu, Jean Leslie Johnny Bevan)

Make sure to leave any show suggestions or any questions on my casting choices so I can explain them.

[regicidal-defenestration]

God That's Brilliant at West End

[smartcookie27]

God That’s Brilliant — DuckTales

[gerec]

Emma’s Birthday/Holiday Party and Erik’s Stupid Face

I don’t know why but I absolutely love writing fics about/set during big parties, especially birthdays or during the holidays as an excuse to throw everybody together for shenanigans! Anyway, here’s 1400 words of a modern au for @lachatblanche, featuring Charles and his childhood bestie Tony Stark. It has all our (hers and mine) favourite tropes including:

- Tony and Charles and Emma as filthy rich, emotionally damaged childhood best friends - Avengers crossovers - Erik as the asshole ex Charles can’t get over - Charles with a VHG (very hot guy) expressly to make Erik green with jealousy  - Still have powers au where everyone exists but nobody is a superhero

Enjoy!

He’s been in the car for ten minutes when his cell starts ringing, blasting AC/DC’s ‘Thunderstruck’ loud enough to jolt him from his half comatose state. 

“Oh my god I just landed,” Charles groans into his state-of-the-art, Stark issued phone slash satellite GPS slash probable supercomputer, “can’t whatever this is wait until I get home? Preferably after I throw myself face first into my bed for the next twenty four hours?”

“No can do, Charles-y my boy,” is the answer he gets, which – to be fair – is exactly the answer he’d expect from his best and oldest friend. “It’s T minus nine hours until Emma’s party and you’re nowhere near ready for a full scale, Frost patented holiday extravaganza.”

A week ago it had seemed like a brilliant idea, catching a ride back to New York on Tony’s private jet, after wrapping his semester as guest lecturer at Oxford. He would make it back in time for Emma’s birthday, and then spend the rest of the holidays binging on Netflix and Chinese take-out. But the last forty eight hours had turned out to be an absolute slog, trying to tie up so many loose ends that he can barely keep his eyes open, and the last thing he wants to do now is get all dressed up and go to a glitzy, high profile party—

“Do you think I could get away with a no show?” he asks, heaving a tired sigh when Tony starts laughing, entirely unsympathetic and not at all helpful. “I mean, how painful do you think it’ll be on a scale of one to ten? When I’m being murdered by Emma in cold blood.”

“She’ll kill you, resurrect you and then kill you again,” Tony replies, which is ridiculous and also, not that far from the truth. “Listen, all you have to do is make an appearance, kiss the birthday girl and drink some champagne…we used to party much, much harder on way less sleep.”

“God, Tony that was over ten years ago! I have an actual career these days, and responsibilities, and—”

“Stop, stop, you’re killing me here, Charles,” Tony interjects. “If I can do it than you can do it too! In case you’ve forgotten I am also a very important person, making big decisions and doing all the grown up things!”  

Charles scoffs. “You mean you have Pepper handling all your actual work while you tinker in your lab day and night. And unless you’re willing to let me hire her away—”

“No! You get your own Pepper, Xavier! She’s a thousand percent off limits I mean it—”

He closes his eyes and tilts his head back with a sigh, content to listen to Tony go off on a tangent about his PA. It’s a little funny, how the man is still in such ridiculous denial over his very intense, very possessive feelings for Pepper; though hopefully, Tony figures it out soon – by New Year’s ideally – or Charles is going to lose his shirt in the gang’s betting pool.

“—are you even listening to me? Charles? Did you fall asleep?”

“No, no sorry just resting my eyes,” he answers, and Tony huffs with feigned annoyance, before launching into another tirade about Charles acting like a boring old man. The whole thing is inexplicably soothing and familiar, making him realize just how much he’s been missing his sister and his closest friends in the months he’s been away. 

Still, there’s no good reason to give in to Tony’s machinations without putting up at least a token fight.

“I don’t have anything to wear. My tux was ruined remember? And I haven’t had the chance to get a new one yet.”

“Emma picked one out for you and my tailor’s on his way over with it. He’ll get you fitted and do the alterations there.”

“My hair’s a right mess. I need to get it cut.”

“Raven’s got a guy. She’s bringing him over.”

“Food? Sleep? I’m in no shape for—”

Tony cuts him off before he can finish. “Done and done. Food will be delivered and you have five hours to nap. That leaves you four hours to shower, shave and get dolled up for the party. My car’s coming to get you at seven p.m. sharp.”

Charles can’t help it; he laughs and laughs at the absurd, military-like precision of Tony’s whole ‘get Charles to the party’ operation. “Did you happen to get me a date too? Is someone going to be gift wrapped and hand delivered to my door at nineteen hundred hours?”

He’s kidding of course, because even Tony wouldn’t go so far as to set him up with a blind date within his first twenty four hours back on U.S. soil. But then—

“Actually, yeah. I know a guy. Handsome, artist, ex-Army Captain. Too bland for me but he’s right up your alley. You’ve got a thing about good manners.”

It takes a moment for Charles to actually register the words, before his mind catches up to the implication of what Tony’s just said. “Oh no. No, no, no, no, no. I’m in absolutely no shape to meet new people. Especially hot new people I might want to make a good first impression on. And possibly take home some other time I’m not feeling like death warmed over for sex.”

There’s a pause on the other end of the line, and then a considering hum before Tony decides to drop the proverbial bomb. “Are you sure? ‘Cause your ex is coming tonight.”

Charles doesn’t whine – though it’s a near thing – but he does groan pitifully, leaning forward to bang his head on the back of the front passenger seat. “Why? Why did you guys invite him? You know how I get around Erik, especially after a few drinks—”

“Hey it wasn’t me! Emma invited him, ‘cause I guess they’re still friends or some shit. You have only yourself to blame though, with all that ‘it’s fine that we broke up you guys don’t have to pick sides or stop being friends with him’ crap. You know if you just told her how you really feel she’ll stab him in the heart with her stiletto heel and serve it to you on a silver platter.”

“She’s a telepath too! I shouldn’t have to tell her…” It’s a weak assed excuse and he knows it.

“Whatever. Are you sure you don’t want a hot date? You and I both know that bastard’s going to bring someone young and flashy to try and make you jealous, and you’re going to totally fall for it again like you did last time and the time before that. And then you’re going to end up having hate sex with him again, even though you swore it would never, ever happen, until the next time it happens and you—"

“Ugh please shut up; you’re the worst friend I’ve ever had in my entire life!”

Tony snorts. “You mean I’m the best friend you’ve ever had or will ever have, because who else would line up a bona fide sex god for you to piss off your stupid ex-boyfriend? Me that’s who. Now are you in or not?”

“Send me a picture,” he says and promptly hangs up, cutting Tony off before he can remind Charles what a mess his life has become, and how he really shouldn’t have tried to take the high road after the messy breakup ten months ago.

The cell pings then, three, four, five times in rapid succession; no doubt the pictures of said blind date as Charles requested. His interest is half-hearted at best, that is, until he gets an eyeful of sweaty, muscle-y biceps in the very first image, a side shot of a tall, blond, very well built man making mincemeat out of the swaying punching bag. The next shot is even better, showing the front of the man as he’s jogging towards the camera, t-shirt slightly too tight over his bulging chest and arms. He’s absolutely, positively, drop dead gorgeous, and Charles can’t wait to walk into Emma’s party, arm-in-arm with his very own Adonis come to life.

It does not give him a hot surge of vicious satisfaction, imagining the sour expression on Erik’s stupid face.

He sends Tony a quick text. Name?

Steve Rogers. Rank Captain. Retired, US Army.

Charles scrubs his face and chuckles as he types his reply. 

I’m in.