The marquee lights were shining bright for Broadway’s Operation Mincemeat musical last night, with the tariff-delayed shipment of the specialty Satco Decorative 11W LED Ceramic Yellow Indicator bulbs sourced in bulk from a China-based vendor having arrived yesterday and installed last night.
When the musical comedy began previews at the John Golden Theatre on February 15, lights for the marquee named “Operation Mincemeat” were still held up in the tariff red tape and so the show went on without the traditional name in marquee lights. (The musical did just fine even with a dark marquee, regularly selling out in recent weeks).
According to producers, the bulbs arrived in the United States Thursday, March 13, and the marquee was finally illuminated after last evening’s performance at the Golden.
In a statement, producer Jon Thoday said, “Broadway is shining just a little more brightly, thanks to the tireless teams who navigated labyrinthine tariff policies to make this happen. We’re particularly grateful to all the intrepid audience members who managed to find our show in spite of our darkened marquee.”
Preview performances of Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical have been been drawing strong, consistent audiences, and performances have been attended by Steven Spielberg, Blythe Danner, Matthew Broderick, Daniel Radcliffe, among others famous faces.
The synopsis: “In Operation Mincemeat, 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.”
Directed by Robert Hastie, Operation Mincemeat’s officially opens on Broadway Thursday, March 20 after having entered the third sold out year in the West End.
