Last Operation Mincemeat Original Cast Performance Recap
I don't post much on Tumblr, but I was at the last performance of the original cast of Operation Mincemeat today, and I tried to write down everything goofy/special that happened. I probably missed things, but this is what I remembered. I thought some fans might like to read it - sorry it's long.
· There was a letter/insert in the Playbill from the original cast.
· The original five American standbys (Gerianne/Sam/Jessi/Amanda/Brandon) were apparently in the audience and got entrance applause (I couldn't see them, but that's who someone else said the applause was for).
· When the show started and the lights came up on Tash, she got a standing ovation and was clearly trying not to cry while sitting at the desk. Eventually she motioned for everyone to sit ("There's a war on!") and told someone to start the show. When she got to “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to MI5,” she instead yelled, “I’m already crying, welcome to MI5!”
· When everyone was gathered around the map on the table during “Born To Lead,” Jak held up a small Tony Award.
· During the scene where they were lined up by Bevan’s door, I don’t remember what it was, Jak and Claire had rehearsed a little in sync character speech that isn't usually there, and Tash said to them, “Let us write the script.”
· David cried at the start of “Dead In The Water” and got a standing ovation at the end. He looked very moved. Then Tash came in as Montagu and yelled at the audience to sit down, then got confused about what line she was on. Then when Monty says something about Charles having "cracking set of teeth," Tash then added something like, "David is the only actor we use this joke with."
· Jak absolutely screamed, “Susan Hilda Goggins” in a rage.
· The audience tried to give Claire a standing ovation at the end of “All The Ladies,” but they moved the music on too quickly. I felt bad because only half the audience stood; they clearly wanted to give her the ovation, but the next scene was starting.
· Before “The Pitch,” Tash got totally lost making extra jokes and they had to redo the, “We need a corpse” part. The original issue was Zoe said, "That was shit" after the first verse of "The Pitch," then Tash yelled at Zoe that she gets to sit the whole scene and can't judge, then yelled at Jak to stop laughing because he doesn't even doing anything in the scene, at which point Jak had to go stand behind a blackboard to compose himself.
· When Jean spoke up during “The Pitch” and tried to convince Bevan to accept the plan, Tash said, “A woman talking?? In 1943??”
· Jak and Claire hugged as Spilsbury and his assistant during “Making a Man,” which got awws from the audience.
· Tash and Zoe cried a little during the “We made you a man” part of “Making a Man.”
· Jak did a very good job getting through Dear Bill. Every time he started to cry, he was able to pause and collect himself. Claire cried through most of the song. You could hear people in the audience crying too. Jak got a standing ovation at the end, and even David and Claire were clapping.
· During the scene at the docks, when Tash mimed holding a fish, Jak (as the Captain) made up a monologue about the fish being their family/children, and Tash said, “Jak Malone, doing the first-ever version of this scene…” Then he started referring to Zoe’s sailor as “good boy Walker.” At the end of the scene, Jak’s captain actually shook Tash’s hand.
· Tash and David cried during “small flashes of joy” and the first part of “Just For Tonight.”
· Jak and Claire almost kissed as Igor and his wife, close enough that a few people in the audience gasped. They also hugged while dancing during another part of the song.
· When Haselden made his first entrance, he got applause while Zoe was pushing on the desk. She kind of froze in a very funny split, which got laughs and more applause. Tash said something like, “There’s something weird going on in Spain.”
· During “The Ballad of Willie Watkins,” Jak had a fake hotdog and he threw it into the audience.
· When Jak was about to run offstage as Hester for the Spilsbury reprise, he made a big show of preparing to run offstage.
· Zoe said, “You’re on thin ice, Natasha” instead of “You’re on thin ice, Montagu.”
· During the briefcase scene, the entire crew came on with Jak and got a standing ovation from the audience and applause from the cast. Juan/Tash also got to blow out the candles. Zoe screamed, “Why are there so many people in this morgue?!” At the end of the briefcase scene, Zoe said something like, “I never want to see another phone again," and Claire and Tash did a shimmy dance with their phones.
· Even during such a fun performance, some scenes still were dead silent – Bevan yelling, “These men’s lives are not a joke,” Monty telling Jean to get the tea, etc.
· I don’t know what happened, but Jak and Claire were cracking themselves up when Jak came in with the fig menu.
· During, “Useful,” Jak put his arms around Claire for the last verse. Also, throughout the show, Claire improvised the least of the five but really was giving it her all, vocally and emotionally.
· When Jak and Claire were behind the newspapers, they had on silly glasses and mustaches (not the usual ones).
· When Bevan was saying Germany moved the troops, Tash gestured to the audience and everyone yelled, “Sardenia!”
· When she was pulled into the air during "Glitzy Finale," Tash started crying. Daily reminder that the fact that she wasn’t Tony nominated shows that Tonys are so weird. Also, Tash randomly hugged Claire and David during the song, and when Jak did his last Shoeshine boy, he yelled "Byeeeee" instead of "Wheeee"
· Zoe cried when she said, "Who was he?" All five held it together pretty well during the final verse of the show, but the last “Soon the journey will be done” sounded a little wonky (very forgivable because by that point they were crying)
· Obviously, they all cried during the curtain call. At the end, they had the whole audience sing, “Sail On, Boys” together (how cool to sing with the original cast!). They then brought out Sam/Gerianne/Jessi/Amanda/Brandon to sing with them, and after that, they also the new five cast members, so all fifteen were on stage. Then they had Jessi/Amanda/Brandon/Julia/Jeff take bows. I’m not going to lie, this made me really sad for Gerianne and Sam all over again – no shade to Julia and Jeff at all (I LOVED Jeff in Masquerade), I just don’t know why Gerianne and Sam didn’t get the opportunity to be principles when they’re so talented and have been with the show for a year.
