From the West End to Providence, WWII comedy 'Operation Mincemeat' is so much stranger than fiction

The West End-to-Broadway track record for musicals can be hit-or-miss, but Operation Mincemeat has instead leaned into absurd history to win attention. The Olivier- and Tony Award-winning musical comedy has launched its 25-city national tour at the Providence Performing Arts Center. The show is based on a 1943 British intelligence plan to convince German leadership that the Allies would invade Greece instead of Italy, using forged documents planted on a dead body set adrift in Spanish waters. The production is the first full-length work by the SpitLip cabaret-style comedy troupe and features numbers such as “Making a Man,” sea shanties, and an electronic dance segment.