STAGE OPERATION MINCEMEAT

★★★★★

The Fortune Theatre until August 19 operationmincemeat.com

Four years after it made its fringe debut, the little Second World War show, which roared in the face of bloated blockbusters, has executed a flawless transition to mainstream triumph with military precision and quicksilver shine, retaining its heroic determination to be true to itself.

It’s as fabulously funny, wickedly witty and magnificently moving as before – just with added sequins and a spectacular finale. Madcap and utterly marvellous, this uproarious musical from the SpitLip team is as bonkers as the true-life story it tells.

In 1943, a daring British plan saw the body of a dead homeless man dressed as an officer wash up on Spanish shores, carrying fabricated plans for invading Sardinia. The ruse persuaded Hitler to move troops out of Sicily, paving the way for the Allied invasion.

The extraordinarily talented cast of five merrily whirl between characters (and genders), often mid-song, from pompous ministry chaps (including Bond author Ian Fleming) and feisty secretaries to submarine sailors, showgirls, camp undertakers and dancing Nazis. Mel Brooks would have been proud.

Like the fast-talking, wisecracking love child of Matilda’s Tim Minchin, Monty Python and Lin-Manuel Miranda, it blends every musical genre and delivers a dazzling array of pastiche treats and belly laughs.

If it was just a jolly farce about class, gender and pluckily defeating the Hun, it would be a hoot. But it suddenly, exquisitely, transforms when young male Jak Malone, as prickly spinster Hester Leggett, quietly sings of a love lost to the previous war. Amid all the hilarity, the theatre fell completely silent, and we wept.

A deeply moving coda also pays poignant tribute to Glyndwr Michael whose body was rather callously used for the drowned officer.

This show understands, as so many do not, that if you make us laugh, if you entertain us, we will listen to what you have to say – and we will care.

The staging retains the original’s simplicity but relishes the perks of bigger sets and technical tricks without losing the joyously anarchic alchemy at its beautiful beating heart. A major chunk of the budget is blown on a gloriously OTT ending that goes full Broadway with bells on.

This show was already a major triumph, now it is sheer perfection.