The Tony Award-winning musical inspired by the wild scheme that helped defeat Adolf Hitler during World War II is now playing in Boston.
"Operation Mincemeat" tells the true story of how MI5 agents came up with the ruse that led to the end of the war.
"It's about World War II, and it's a comedy. And also, it's incredibly moving at times," said Katie Kleiger, who portrays Ewen Montagu, one of the plan's real-life masterminds.
"He's such a galvanizer which I think is such a cool thing to be like he's like, 'let's do it, let's like act. Let's not think or talk, let's do the thing,'" Kleiger told WBZ-TV. "And I think that's like a really awesome trait to have."
In 1953, Montagu wrote "The Man Who Never Was," a book detailing the operation.
The mission involved faking a plane crash and planting documents on a dead body, convincing Hitler to move thousands of troops.
"It facilitated the invasion of Sicily and if that hadn't happened D-Day probably could never have happened or wouldn't have happened in the same way," Sarah Montagu, Ewen's granddaughter, told WBZ-TV. "He always used to say that he really enjoyed fooling Hitler."
Saul Montagu, a great-grandchild of Ewen's, and Sarah are both big fans of the show.
"It's such an unlikely subject for a musical that it's, I said we were all surprised but you know, everybody thought it was great," Sarah said.
"I got to know him more after the actual musical had come out," Saul told WBZ-TV. "So the show itself kind of drove me to actually, you know, I never got to meet him but got kind of closer to who he was in the past."
Kleiger said that the research she did before taking the role allowed her to more intricately understand the type of person Ewen Montagu was.
"This is life or death for so many people and the reality of what that time was for the world," Kleiger said. "They did an incredible thing. And I think, I hope that the descendants of these people are proud to see their family members on stage portrayed in that way."
Sarah Montagu told WBZ-TV that her grandfather spent time in the United States after the war, including a semester at Harvard University in Cambridge.
You can see "Operation Mincemeat" at the Emerson Colonial Theatre in Boston through Sunday, Oct. 25.
