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“the Best New Song on Broadway…a true showstopper”
Jason P. Frank, Vulture
“Broadway’s song of the season has announced itself.”
Tim Teeman, The Daily Beast
“In ‘Dear Bill,’ fabulation and true feeling mix to gorgeous effect.”
Jesse Green, The New York Times
“Dear Bill” is one of the show’s crowning achievements and a succinct illustration of what makes Malone’s performance such a standout…becomes the beating heart of the show”
Shania Russell, Entertainment Weekly
“It’s Malone’s ‘Dear Bill’ that lingers long after the curtain falls. One of the most poignant musical-theater ballads in recent memory, Malone delivers it as a masterclass in stillness and emotional acuity, hitting us like a ton of bricks.”
David Gordon, TheaterMania
New York, NY (Tuesday, May 20) – Operation Mincemeat and Sony Masterworks Broadway today released a special live recording of “Dear Bill,” the breakout Broadway showstopper hailed by Vulture as “the best new song on Broadway.” Captured live at London’s Fortune Theatre, the release is in celebration of the Olivier Award®-winning Best Musical’s four Tony Award® nominations: Best Musical, Best Book, Best Original Score, and Best Featured Actor in a Musical for Olivier Award® winner Jak Malone, who delivers the powerful ballad as MI5 secretary Hester Leggatt.
Inspired by a real letter written by Leggatt in WWII, “Dear Bill” tells the story of a heartfelt message to a fictional lover—placed on a corpse as part of a top-secret British intelligence ruse. While the mission has long been credited to agents Ewen Montagu (played by Natasha Hodgson) and Charles Cholmondeley (played by David Cumming), the musical shines a spotlight on Leggatt’s previously unsung role. Since the show’s debut, fans have unearthed Leggatt’s true identity—officially recognised by MI5 in 2023. This rediscovery culminated in the unveiling of a commemorative plaque at the Fortune Theatre, attended by over 1,000 fans. To mark the occasion, Sony originally released the “Dear Bill” live recording as a limited-edition 7-inch vinyl on International Women’s Day last year, which sold out instantly.
Since then, “Dear Bill” has become one of the most talked-about moments of the Broadway season and became the fastest-growing, most-streamed track on the cast album over the past month. Produced, arranged, orchestrated, and with musical direction by Grammy Award® winner Steve Sidwell (Beautiful: The Carole King Musical), the song is written and composed by SpitLip —Cumming, Felix Hagan, Hodgson, and Zoë Roberts.
“Dear Bill,” Live From the Fortune Theatre, is available now – listen here.
This release follows Malone’s performance of the track on NBC’s The Kelly Clarkson Show last week — available to watch here.
Tony Award nominee Malone commented: “Performing Dear Bill has been one of the most emotional and rewarding parts of my career. This version is my favourite recording we’ve done because the audience is right there with me. For me, this is definitive, and we’re overjoyed it’s now available for everyone to hear.”
SpitLip added: “We poured our own little sadnesses, our grief, love and hope into this song hoping to transform it all into something that could lift other people up. To watch Jak perform it every night and to see the catharsis it brings is a miracle to us. We’re so proud of it, of him, and of this very special recording.”
Operation Mincemeat is produced on Broadway and in the West End by Avalon (in association with SpitLip). The show was commissioned by New Diorama Theatre, co-commissioned by The Lowry, and also supported by the Rhinebeck Writers Retreat.
Notes To Editors
Following the musical’s third Broadway extension through 15 February 2026 and its 15th West End extension through 28 February 2026, Operation Mincemeat has announced a landmark world tour. Kicking off on 16 February 2026 at The Lowry in Salford—the venue that first supported SpitLip’s debut musical in its earliest form, including the original scratch performance in 2017—the tour will travel across countries including the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, China, Mexico, and New Zealand.
Directed by Robert Hastie, Operation Mincemeat began performances on Broadway on February 15 and is now playing at the historic Golden Theatre (252 West 45th Street). The Broadway production stars David Cumming, Claire-Marie Hall, Natasha Hodgson, Olivier Award-winner Jak Malone, and Zoë Roberts, who have reprised their original, acclaimed performances for the musical’s (American) premiere.
Meanwhile, on the West End, a new chapter has begun as Alex Young, Danny Becker, Peter McGovern, and Roshani Abbey joining returning cast member Chlöe Hart to form the new company at London’s Fortune Theatre.
The decision to write the musical was the last roll of the dice from the quartet of young British creatives after years of performing sketch shows at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and echoes the journey of Beyond the Fringe from the world-famous quartet Alan Bennett, Peter Cook, Jonathan Miller, and Dudley Moore, which premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1960 before moving to the Fortune Theatre and later to the Golden in 1962.
Operation Mincemeat began as a tiny (and tiny-budgeted) production at London’s New Diorama Theatre. The show quickly gained a devoted following, spurring sold-out runs at venues including Southwark Playhouse and Riverside Studios. It finally premiered in the West End on May 9, 2023, at the Fortune Theatre, where it has since received 74 five-star reviews and counting, becoming ‘the Best Reviewed Show in West End History.’ Now in its third sold-out year, the show continues to play to standing-room-only crowds and has built one of London’s most passionate fanbases, affectionately known as the “Mincefluencers.”
To date, Operation Mincemeat has been nominated for 64 awards since opening at the 77-seat New Diorama Theatre in 2019, winning 13, including Best Musical 3 times, from the Olivier Awards®, WhatsOnStage Awards, and Off-West End Awards. On Broadway, the show is nominated for 4 Tony Awards® in 2025, including Best Musical and Best Featured Actor in a Musical for Malone, who previously won the Olivier Award® in the same category. The production has also received nominations for Outstanding Production of a Musical at the Drama League Awards, Outstanding New Broadway Musical at the Outer Critics Circle Awards, Best Musical at the BroadwayWorld Theater Fans’ Choice Awards, and Favourite New Musical at the Broadway.com Audience Choice Awards.
SpitLip – Cumming, Felix Hagan, Hodgson, and Roberts –are nominated for Best Book and Best Score at the Tony Awards®, Outer Critics Circle Awards, and BroadwayWorld Theater Fans’ Choice Awards. They have also received Drama Desk Award nominations for Outstanding Book of a Musical and Outstanding Lyrics. The Broadway cast has been nominated for Best Ensemble at the BroadwayWorld Theater Fans’ Choice Awards. Malone is additionally nominated for a Drama Desk Award, an Outer Critics Circle Award, and a Drama League Award, and recently won a Theatre World Award for Outstanding Broadway Debut. Cumming, Hodgson, Roberts, and Hall have each received nominations at the BroadwayWorld Theater Fans’ Choice Awards, with Cumming also recognised with two Broadway.com Audience Choice Award nominations.
What The UK Press Said About Dear Bill
“It’s [Dear Bill] deeply touching, beautifully delivered by Malone and encapsulates the heart of the show”
Sarah Hemming, The Financial Times
“Whatever is next for this production, expect his [Malone’s] rendition of Dear Bill to be breaking hearts for some time to come.”
Emma John, The Guardian
“I wept buckets today listening to the wonderful musical Operation Mincemeat. The song Dear Bill would destroy a standing stone.”
Naomi Alderman, The Times
“the amazing song that everyone loves, and everyone remembers is ‘Dear Bill’, because it brings a tear to even the stoniest of eyes”
Nick Clark, The Evening Standard
“Malone sings Hester’s heartfelt solo “Dear Bill”, about a letter to a long-ago wartime sweetheart, with such quiet emotional force and truth that much audience snuffling could be heard.”
Fiona Mountford, The i
“That one song [Dear Bill] by Malone as Hester Leggett is still the highlight of a thousand highlights in this show – only now it’s possibly the highlight of the entire West End.”
Jim Compton Hall, The Upcoming
