Operation Mincemeat, the hit London musical comedy that begins previews at Broadway‘s John Golden Theatre tomorrow, will have to start performances without the usual marquee lights shining: The LED bulbs are stuck in China, a temporary casualty of the Trump tariff.
According to the musical’s spokesperson Rick Miramontez, thousands of ceramic yellow LED bulbs were scheduled to arrive from China earlier this month in time for installation for the musical’s first preview tomorrow. But the ad agency handling the marquee has been told that the Satco Lighting bulbs won’t arrive until March at the earliest.
Trump announced a 10% tariff on imports from China on February 1, prompting China to implement its own tariffs on some American imports. Operation Mincemeat‘s lights are caught in the middle, stuck in China.
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The show will go on as planned, just without the usual bright lights of Broadway welcoming theatergoers.
Operation Mincemeat is inspired by the unlikely real-life World War II story of an Allied Forces used of a corpse, with fake military plans in its pockets, to fool the Axis military with the diversion. The synopsis reads: “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.”
The Broadway staging follows two sold-out years on London’s West End, where Mincemeat won the Olivier Award for Best Musical in 2024. Written and composed by the comedy troupe SpitLip, the production begins previews at the Golden – sans marquee lights – Saturday, February 15, with an official opening on Thursday, March 20.
The Associated Press was first to report the marquee story. Deadline has confirmed.
The post Trump Tariff Battle Darkens Broadway’s ‘Operation Mincemeat’ Marquee, Lights Stuck In China appeared first on Deadline.
