Two disparate musicals originating away from Broadway, one in London and the other Off-Broadway at the Atlantic Theatre Club, recently opened with a day of each other and separated by one theater. Operation Mincemeat debuted at the Golden and Buena Vista Social Club set up shop at the Schoenfeld (sandwiched between them is The Outsiders, last year’s Best Musical Tony winner, at the Jacobs.) Both shows take their inspiration from real events and spin dazzling entertainments out of them.
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Zoe Roberts, Jak Malone, Natasha Hodgson,
David Cumming, and Claire-Marie Hall in
Operation Mincemeat.
Credit: Julieta Cervantes
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Operation Mincemeat is a riotously funny satire combining elements of Monty Python’s Flying Circus, Beyond the Fringe, and those marvelous movies depicting the British struggle to defeat Hitler such as The Battle of Britain, One of Our Aircraft Is Missing and The Imitation Game. A nimble cast of five (three of whom collaborated on the book, music and lyrics) play all the characters in a madcap send-up of stiff-upper-lip tributes to the English homefront and spy thrillers. The versatile ensemble crosses gender lines with ease with the three women playing numerous male roles and the two men enacting females with dexterity.
The truth-based plot follows the wacky scheme to deceive German intelligence by placing false information about British troop plans on the corpse of a derelict disguised as a pilot. Of course, there are twists and turns involving internal rivalries within MI5, Spanish coroners, Yank fliers, submarine crews and double agents. But along the way, we get innovative comedy numbers as well as believable character development. The participants in the stratagem are depicted not just as cartoonish caricatures but three-dimensional people with motivations beyond eliciting laughs. The clever script and score by David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson, and Zoe Roberts operates on several levels; it’s a musical spoof as well as a convincing espionage nail-biter. Robert Hastie’s fast-paced direction strikes the perfect balance between zany lampooning and honest portraiture.
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Jak Malone and Zoe Roberts in
Operation Mincemeat.
Credit: Julieta Cervantes |
The best example of this dichotomy of drama and comedy occurs when Jak Malone as Hester Leggatt, the ultra-efficient female staff member usually charged with preparing tea and taking dictation, makes a vital contribution to the operation. In the song “Dear Bill,” she creates a letter from a sweetheart to be placed on the cadaver to make his false mission convincing to the Germans. In Malone’s tender rendering, it becomes gradually clear that Hester is reliving a personal heartache from the previous war and the tragedy of combat and death intrudes on the breakneck farce. In contrast, Malone is delightfully ghoulish as the supplier of dead bodies and zestfully brash as an American pilot. In addition to “Dear Bill,” highlights include a shockingly funny Nazi number which approaches “Springtime for Hitler” from The Producers in its brash mockery and a Marx-Brothers mishmash involving hats and telephone chords as the status of the dead body is juggled between national authorities. Both of these and the rest of the zingy numbers feature Jenny Arnold’s inventive choreography.
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Claire-Marie Hall, Natasha Hodgson, Zoe
Roberts, and David Cumming in
Operation Mincemeat.
Credit: Julieta Cervantes |
Natasha Hodgson is appropriately pompous and narcissistic as the self-important, snobbish agent Ewen Montagu who steals the spotlight from Charles Cholmondeley (comically bashful David Cumming), a painfully introverted naturalist and the real creative genius behind the entire operation. Claire-Marie Hall sparkles as Jean Leslie, the secretary longing to emerge from behind the typewriter to make a real contribution to the war effort. Zoe Roberts bristles with authority as Johnny Bevan, the proper commander; zestfully parodies spy convention as Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond; and is hilariously incompetent as a fumbling operative, Bond’s polar opposite.
Ben Stones’ ingenious and flexible sets and costumes take us to dozens of locales from the Imperial War Rooms to muggy Spain to the skies over Europe in this madcap caper.
My only quibble is the cast tend to sing the clever lyrics to some of the patter-like numbers so quickly and in such proper British accents, it’s hard to comprehend all the words. But once you get used to the dialect and the rapidity, Operation Mincemeat is one of the funniest and most enjoyable shows of the past several seasons.
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Justin Cunningham, Marco Paguia (on piano),
Renecito Avich, Natalie Venetia Belcon,
and Roman Diaz in
Buena Vista Social Club.
Credit: Matthew Murphy |
Two doors up at the Schoenfeld is another explosive entertainment, the Broadway transfer of Buena Vista Social Club. Based on the smash-hit 1997 album and Wim Wenders’ 1999 Oscar-nominated documentary, the musical focuses on the reassembling of musicians who frequented the titular informal establishment in pre-Castro Cuba. The book by Marco Ramirez supplies a mawkish storyline about retired diva Omara (a magnificent Natalie Venetia Beacon) reluctant to revisit her past, time-tripping between 1996 (the recording of the album) and 1956 (when the artists were beginning their careers before the revolution which shattered the country). But the real heartbeat of the show is the sizzling, energetic Afro-Cuban numbers, performed by the hottest ensemble on Broadway. The atmosphere is not as intimate as it was Off-Broadway, and the only changes are some elaborate, glitzy additions to Arnulfo Maldonado’s evocative set. Saheem Ali’s staging remains vibrant and fluid and the dancers are given more space to execute Patricia Delgado and Justin Peck’s exciting, exquisite choreography.
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The cast of Buena Vista Social Club.
Credit: Matthew Murphy |
In addition to Belcon’s commanding performance, Isa Antonetti, Julio Monge, Mel Seme, Ashley de la Rosa, and Wesley Wray turn in arresting work both dramatically and vocally. The real star is the galvanic ensemble, led by music director Marco Paguia who also is credited with orchestrations and arrangements. They and the cast make this the hottest party in town.
Operation Mincemeat: March 20—Feb. 15, 2026. Golden Theater, 252 W. 45th St., NYC. Running time: two hours and 30 mins. including intermission. telecharge.com
Buena Vista Social Club: Opened March 19 for an open run. Gerald Schoenfeld Theater, 236 W. 45th St., NYC. Running time: two hours and 20 mins. including intermission. telecharge.com
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