Back in 1943, in the middle of World War II, British intelligence agents engineered a diversion to convince German intelligence organizations that an Allied landing was planned for Greece and Sardinia, when the actual landing would happen in Sicily.
The diversion, code-named Operation Mincemeat, was successful. More than half a century later, it was the subject of a book, and then a film starring Colin Firth and Matthew Macfadyen.
So how, one might wonder, does such a story turn into an award-winning musical comedy? Luke Antony Neville is one of the actors in “Operation Mincemeat,” which launches its first national tour from the Providence Performing Arts Center on September 20.
“I knew of Operation Mincemeat from growing up in the UK,” said Neville, who’s from County Durham in the northeast of England. “I can’t believe that actually happened.”
Neville plays Hester Leggatt, who was the head of secretaries at MI5. “A formidable woman with a tough British outer exterior. I sort of lay it all out there.” Leggatt is Neville’s main character, but he plays “24 or 25 other characters at last count.”
There are only five actors on stage, including Neville, playing over 87 roles. “Things move very quickly, like a clown troupe.” There are some very quick costume changes, but not complete changes. “On stage, you change a hat and you’re someone else.”
He says it’s amazing when the five actors come out at the end of the show to take their bows. “People ask, where are all the other actors?”
When we chatted, Neville and company were spending their last day in rehearsal in New York. Over the weekend, they will move into PPAC for their technical rehearsals, working in the sets, the lights, and the sound.
The hardest part of the rehearsal process for Neville was “downloading all of the text, getting it into my head.” Through it all, he finds himself thinking, “I can’t believe that’s my job.”
While the show is a musical comedy, “so many moments of the show are serious. A lot of the comedy is out of the uncertainty that this would happen,” said Neville. “Really, this happened, and they got away with it. We turn up the dial on those moments.”
Neville says he was “always a loud kid growing up.” His parents tried to figure out where to funnel that energy.” He tried a variety of sports. But then he heard that a local theater company was looking for people to join the cast of “Les Miserables.” At the age of 16, he was cast as Thenardier, the innkeeper who serves as the show’s comic relief.
“I immediately found my little corner to express myself.” He came to New York to study at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He found work pretty quickly, including the first national tour of “Back to the Future: The Musical,” which also came through Providence. “I played Principal Strickland and seven other roles. Sort of a warm-up for ‘Mincemeat,’” playing quite a few more roles.
Neville is the “token Brit” in the show. The other actors are all American, “faking” their British accents. “They sound better than me. I don’t think anyone will be able to pick me out of the lineup” as the authentic Englishman.
The national tour of “Operation Mincemeat” launches from the Providence Performing Arts Center, running September 20 through September 26. For tickets and information, call the box office at 401.421.ARTS or visit www.ppacri.org.
