For a musical revolving around the procurement of a corpse, Operation Mincemeat is surprisingly joyful. It takes an establishment story — the intelligence operation which tricked the Nazis and secured the island of Sicily for the Allies — and transforms it into something gloriously anarchic. Delighting audiences since 2019, the West End show is now enjoying its first major cast change.

This is fringe theatre gone big-budget, and the combination is thrilling. With an ensemble cast of just five, everyone has to work overtime, portraying an exhausting profusion of characters with exuberance, distinctness and comedic flair. There is barely a moment when any performer is offstage, and this only for costume changes. The gender-blind casting adds to the subversive fun; although each actor embodies their roles with such commitment that we soon forget the mild-mannered secretary (Christian Andrews) is multiple feet taller than the smooth-talking hero (Bridgerton’s Emily Barber).

Created by writers David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson and Zoë Roberts, the lyrics are relentlessly funny, with jokes and rhymes rattling by so quickly that the audience is racing to keep up.  In contrast, the set (Ben Stones) is relatively minimal, as befits a fringe production. Minimal, that is, right up until the ‘glitzy finale’, a ridiculous and joyous affair which has clearly had about 90% of the budget thrown at it.  This irreverence suffuses every part of the production, from dancing Nazis to a cameo by a yet-unsuccessful Ian Fleming (Chloe Hart).

Operation Mincemeat takes history and makes it fresh and new.  The show has garnered an enormous following since 2019: it deserves all the hype, and more.

Playing eight shows a week at the Fortune Theatre until 25 January 2025.