Double Olivier Award® and Tony Award® winning hit musical Operation Mincemeat will premiere at Melbourne’s Comedy Theatre in September 2027, before continuing its Australian Tour, with further cities to be announced. The search for the cast will commence early next year.
Based on a real 1943 World War II mission of the same name, Operation Mincemeat follows a team of British intelligence officers cooking up one of the most audacious deceptions in military history. It’s 1943, and the Allied Forces are on the ropes. Luckily, they’ve got a trick up their sleeve. Well, not up their sleeve, per se, but rather inside the pocket of a stolen corpse.
Equal parts farce, thriller, and Ian Fleming-style spy caper (with an assist from Mr. Fleming himself), Operation Mincemeat tells the wildly improbable and hilarious true story of the covert operation that turned the tide of WWII, as a team of eccentric spies plant a corpse loaded with fake invasion plans to fool the Nazis and protect the Allied invasion of Sicily.
“It’s incredibly exciting to be invited to produce Operation Mincemeat in Australia and to be able to bring the show to a whole new audience,” said Jon Thoday, Producer at Avalon. “Australia will be the fifth production of Operation Mincemeat and the next chapter in its extraordinary journey.”
“From its beginnings in a 77-seat London fringe theatre, the show is now playing simultaneously in the West End and on Broadway, with a world tour underway, so far spanning the UK and North America.”
Operation Mincemeat is now playing simultaneously in London, New York and across its world tour, with the UK leg well underway and the North American leg having just launched with two sold-out performances at the Providence Performing Arts Center, Rhode Island, on 20th September, welcoming a combined audience of 5,200 – the production’s biggest audience to date.
The show’s international journey will continue with Australia as its fifth production, before travelling on to New Zealand, China and Mexico, taking Operation Mincemeat across four continents.
The production holds the title of best-reviewed show in West End history, with over 181 five-star reviews and counting. It has been extended a record 19 times in London and 11 times on Broadway, and has racked up 66 award nominations and 24 wins, including Best Musical four times over, at the Olivier Awards®, WhatsOnStage Awards®, BroadwayWorld Theater Fans’ Choice Awards® and Off West End Awards®.
On Broadway, it landed four 2025 Tony Award® nominations, including Best Musical, taking home Best Featured Actor in a Musical for Jak Malone’s turn as Hester Leggatt – a role that also won him the Olivier Award® in the same category.
The production has also received nominations for Outstanding Production of a Musical at the Drama League Awards, Outstanding New Broadway Musical at the Outer Critics Circle Awards, Best Musical at the BroadwayWorld Theater Fans’ Choice Awards, and Favourite New Musical at the Broadway.com Audience Choice Awards.
“The Brits have made the year’s funniest musical…Against the odds, the “Operation Mincemeat” gang has found its way to the big time.” – The Washington Post
It’s come a long way from where it started: a 2019 fringe production at London’s 77 seat New Diorama Theatre, dreamed up by the Olivier Award® winning and triple Tony Award® nominees SpitLip (David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson and Zoë Roberts) and directed by Deputy Artistic Director at the National Theatre and Olivier Award® nominated Robert Hastie.
From sold-out runs at Southwark Playhouse and Riverside Studios, to the West End’s Fortune Theatre in 2023, to Broadway’s historic Golden Theatre in February 2025, Operation Mincemeat has built a cult hit into a global phenomenon – and it isn’t slowing down.
That momentum is driven by one of theatre’s most devoted fan communities, affectionately known as the “Mincefluencers”. Their viral TikTok and social media following has helped fuel the show’s record-breaking success, spilling out of the theatre and into real life.
From fans turning up for a surprise performance dressed as each of the show’s 80-plus characters, all played by just five actors, to 300 supporters flying from London to New York for Operation Mincemeat’s first Broadway preview, where they surprised the cast with a rendition of Sail On, Boys, the musical’s signature theme.
Earlier this year, the show sold its 1 millionth ticket, celebrating with five Golden Tickets offering fans unlimited access to Operation Mincemeat’s anywhere in the world, for life. One winner, Joseph Kavanaugh, has since visited the touring production more than 100 times.
Operation Mincemeat is produced in the West End, on Broadway, and on tour by Avalon (in association with SpitLip). The show was commissioned by New Diorama Theatre, co-commissioned by The Lowry, and also supported by the Rhinebeck Writers Retreat.
“Masterclass in musical comedy” and a “joyous, slick and irrepressible wartime musical” – The Guardian
Operation Mincemeat will make its Australian premiere at Melbourne’s Comedy Theatre in September 2027 before commencing its Australian tour. The official waitlist is now open at: www.operationmincemeat.com.
Images: Charlotte Fleming, Madeleine Jackson-Smith, Ahmed Hamad, Chloë Hart and Colm Gleeson star in Operation Mincemeat (West End Cast) – photo by Matt Crockett | Chlöe Hart, Colm Gleeson, Madeleine Jackson-Smth, Ahmed Hamad and Charlotte Fleming star in Operation Mincemeat (West End Cast) – photo by Matt Crockett | Ahmed Hamad, Charlotte Fleming, Madeleine Jackson-Smith, Chlöe Hart and Colm Gleeson star in Operation Mincemeat (West End Cast) – photo by Matt Crockett