thehiddenswimmingpool

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Doesn't have to be.

WHAT DID YOU BECOME TO EWEN MONTAGU?? TELL ME CHARLES CHOLMONDELEY TELL ME

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he’ll tell the story of our perfect body…or something ✨🎩

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God, I love being bisexual 🙂‍↕️

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In Charles/Monty/Jean, what do you think the dynamic between Jean and Charles would be like? I'm very curious

Omh okay this is actually so fun

So like. Charles and Jean def love each other a lot but its v different from other dynamics in the relationship (Monty/Charles being very touchy and heavily reliant on each other, Jean/Monty having this weird tension between each other that's almost like a competition, less physical and more emotional, etc).

The thing that made me really look at them and be like "they could be in love" was my millionth time watching the whole love is a bird scene tbh. Basically I was just kind of like. They match each other's weird so well. Like they both have their little weird vibe and I think its very complimentary. Their differences being that Jean is more confident than Charles.

I have a lot of different versions of canon for this ship (Monty/Charles/Jean) but in my favorite one, Charles and Jean have a really fun relationship arc. It starts with Jean kissing Charles, and they think they both like it, but then Monty is introduced to the equation and the way that they each feel about him is so different from how they feel about each other that they start to wonder if they really are romantically interested in each other. For a while they would maybe explore the possibility of a qpr or however they would have referred to it in those times. not nothing but not necessarily something. After that initial questioning they don't really participate in any activities that people dating would do. And eventually I think they do realize they're in love with each other and not just on an in-between ground. I think Charles realizes this first and he's way too scared to say anything about it because Jean and him *agreed* that it was probably not romantic and he doesn't want to lose her friendship. Jean kind of goes through the same thought process. So Monty who I haven't brought up for a sec sees this happening and is like. Dumbasses (he wants to be securely in a relationship with both of them and not have this fear of one of them leaving). So he basically just sits them down and is like. Have a drink and talk. Then they do :)

I think once they have it figured out, they're still really different from how they would generally perceive love. They're not overly clingy to each other (like Monty and Charles are) but they hold hands and exchange a kiss every once in a while. and they don't have anything to prove to each other (Monty and Jean) except for who can do the most times tables in the least amount of time. They have this really deep understanding of each other that comes from the fact that they were really good friends before they were partners, I feel like.

Anyways I really hope that made vague sense ?? lmk if I didn't answer u good enough and I WILL yap more

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I have just finished writing a fic, would be very happy if you went and gave it a read :3

It's based on the wonderful @heyyesimtrash-whatofit's fanart which can be found here:

Please go and give love to it :))

Also ignore that my AO3 is currently woefully devoid of Oppo fics, I've got something deep in the works that I really hope I can manage to finish and post guys trust 💪💪

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That's the thing though. Monty Georg IS Monty. He's the one thinking about himself.

"average person thinks about ewen montagu once a day" factoid actually just statistical error.

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he stands like 🧍 sooo real

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a moment please for JFT monty

(@callmelasagna's master)

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wyd when my gang pulls up?

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how tf does Monty give me gender envy

thats a man

played by a woman so technically a woman

but man

but not

guys WHICH PART AM I JEALOUS OF I DONT KNOW

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i asked for the finest minds in england and all i got was these very underwhelming men

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If you're still taking niche Mincemeat headcanons:

Monty and Charles both manage to get themselves injured in ridiculous ways. With Charles being super uncoordinated (which is a mood) and Monty being reckless, how could they not?

And Monty seems like the type of person to whine over a paper cut, and then just completely ignore a stab wound.

Charles is the type of person to fall down (or up) the stairs, while Monty would fall out of a window.

Also, Hester would know first aid, since she was historically a Girl Guide, so bonus team mom points for that.

I dunno, I thought some lighter hurt/comfort-y stuff could be fun.

first of all, yes to monty being dramatic about the little things but avoidant and reckless with his health when there's something seriously wrong. if you haven't already, you must read @antigonesghosts' sickfic and @lailaliquorice's hurt/comfort

since they've got monty covered, i've written a little bit about charlie. entirely against my will it somehow turned into montlie. sorry about that, im plagued you see

um. i had to force myself to stop because i forgot the prompt and got lost in the montlie sauce. so that's it for this one im afraid

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the whole plan being charlie's invention is actually So interesting bc he is and he is thought of both by himself and by his peers to be totally different from the montys of the world and all of the other egotistical men running around mi5 but you see that same ego in what he comes up with!! hes taking a dead body and making the person that he wants!! hes victor frankensteining it up with the best of them!! even if he's not the same as the rest of them, he's still dipping his toes in and ending up knee deep in playing god with everyone else

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has anyone done a montlie childhood friends au? it could work so well with trans monty... the fact that as adults monty ignored charles at the office for 6 years could be because he didn't want to risk being recognised or because he doesn't know what charles might think about people like him and cant face being shunned by his old best friend. charles, though, does recognise him and even though it's a shock that his friend is a man now he adjusts to it quickly and admires him from afar. he's a little sad monty avoids him, but understands that he probably doesn't want to be associated with the weird bug boy anymore

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Apparently people liked the first one, so here's

Operation Mincemeat Music Theory 2: Lost in New York Huelva

Buckle up, because this one is getting a bit wordy.

Gotta love the essay-format song structure in Making a Man—thesis, three examples (with elaboration for each), and a conclusion that brings back the thesis in a different way. This concept was introduced to me by Lin-Manuel Miranda in his annotations for the song Satisfied from Hamilton, and it is one of my favorite things to notice in musicals because it crops up so often. In this format, each of the three "examples" is dominated by a different musical idea that will sometimes reference or mirror other ideas in the song. I like Making a Man's essay format in particular, because you can see the way the thesis from the beginning grows from an idea to a more tangible plan, reflected both in the lyrics and in the added complexity to the music.

The whole Mincemeat soundtrack really likes the keys of C major/minor and G major/minor. I'm guessing this is for the ease of the accompanying musicians—all of these keys are pretty simple to play on most instruments. The distribution of the keys used in this musical really interests me, especially given all the key changes, so I'll probably make a graph of them later.

Sail On Boys appears three times. The first is the original sea chanty in 3/4 time and D major, the general-purpose sort of sailing song about the joys of the open sea and the fish in your hand. The second is the sorrowful section in Just for Tonight in 4/4 time and A major, mourning Glyndwr's corpse as he's floated out to sea. This version is a complete departure in both time signature and key from the original. Finally, the third is at the end of Glitzy Finale, in 4/4 time and D major. This final tribute to Glyndwr Michael is, then, a beautiful combination of the grieving version in Just for Tonight (time signature) and the wistful, content version in the original Sail On Boys (key). Intentional? Who knows, but it's cool to think about.

Pretty obvious, but I really love that whenever Fleming is going on about his bloody novels, the James Bond theme starts playing in the background.

Certain chord progressions work well because they take the notes in the chords in a direction that makes sense. This is true for the chorus of Useful, which starts on an odd chord for a chorus in C major to start on (E minor) and then builds upward to F, G, and A—just before falling again on the line F, E, D in "they forced enemy forces to fly" (FM, CM, GM). Jean builds upward and upward, only to end up right back where she started.

Is Monty referring to himself or Charlie when he sings that "they'll see my genius clinched our victory"? Probably himself, but if that isn't a subconscious double-meaning on his part, I don't know what is.

@antigonesghosts pointed out in the tags of my last post that Spilsbury's theme comes back as Monty's section of Glitzy Finale because they are both major frauds. (sorry to bother you my friend but I thought this was really cool)

Monty and Bevan's argument in Making a Man is great for many reasons. The syncopation and disrupted measures? The repetition of "making a" at the beginning of all their sentences with the instrumentation hits and other singers behind it? The acapella-ness of the rest of it? The offbeat rhyming? I love it all. It makes it feel so personal and immediate and chaotic.

"Be a spy, modern day Mata Hari!" Jean sings in All the Ladies, not realizing that this is exactly what she'll be tasked with later (and forced to swallow her feminine pride to do) for the sake of the mission.

In Making a Man, Spilsbury has a nice lively Latin beat behind him. That disappears completely in favor of a more laid-back, swung rhythm in Spilsbury's Reprise. Seems like our guy has lost a bit of his façade.

Y'all I'm no expert on any of this, but I hope this is at least somewhat interesting and not just an incoherent ramble à la Charles Cholmondeley

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how many times have you actually seen the show?

only 5 times! actually i realise saying "only" 5 times sounds a little crazy. but it's rookie numbers compared to some of my beloved mutuals. here's my pathetic excel tracker sheet so far

the first time i saw mince was this cast's second ever performance actually. but i literally had no idea (i didnt even know it was a musical until that same day). honestly they were so good that it seemed like they'd been in their roles for ages to someone like me who had zero knowledge of the show. i think that's why this cast are like. the definitive versions of the characters for me (alex and peter especially) and it has been really cool to see them get better and better while they settle into their interpretations of the roles

sidenote when i looked up the cast during the interval at my first show and saw monty was played by someone called alex i genuinely thought she was nonbinary LOL i had to google her pronouns

my second show being jason's hester debut was also a total coincidence but he immediately became my fav in the role. you dont understand how much i NEED to see his second cover charles debut as well. i have a feeling him and alex might become my favourite montlie pairing simply based on their interactions so far as monty/masterman, montybury, and montyjewell

anyway i realise you didnt ask about all this extra stuff. the answer was 5... but i also have 4 more shows booked in (←insane person)

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Things (intentional or not) that I love about the music of Operation Mincemeat

because I am a major music theory nerd

does anyone else care about this

Most of the songs on the Mincemeat soundtrack have a key change (or multiple, in many cases—Glitzy Finale alone has TEN). In musicals like this, in particular, key changes are indicative of an emotional change or change in scene/setting, and this is so in Mincemeat. What interests me most, however, are the few songs with no key changes—Dear Bill, Sail On Boys, Useful, and Dead in the Water—that all rely on the sheer emotion of the characters themselves, rather than key changes, to convey genuine emotion and smooth transitions between ideas. So good. (Technically, Bevan's Update has no key changes either, but I'm not counting it because it's very short and primarily driven by plot.)

Bonus points if you noticed that flashy, performance-obsessed Monty is involved in none of these songs. All of Monty's major songs, in fact, are sprinkled with a heavy dose of key changes. Make of that what you will.

The melody line on "in Huelva a memorial now stands/looking out across the sea upon the sands" in Glitzy Finale is really close to being quoted by Hester in Dear Bill ("as if you'd been here all along/'cause you can't just miss out on the songs"). Glitzy Finale is the first and only song to mention Glyndwr Michael's name. He has been here all along, but until now, he has been missing out on the songs.

Just For Tonight barrels straight through 20th century music genres in chronological order. 1940s jazz becomes 1960s Latin becomes 1970s disco becomes 1990s–2000s dance music.

Act As If alternates 6/8 and 2/4 to create what feels like 5/4, then intersperses that with sections of 3/4 and 6/8. The constant time signature switching just makes it feel that much more tense and urgent. It also makes the song an absolute bop.

Someone pointed out to me that Ballad of Willie Watkins has The Star Spangled Banner playing in the background during some of the later sections. I can no longer unhear it.

The recognizable melody that I call the "pitch music" is used three distinct times throughout the show: during the initial presentation in The Pitch, during Charlie's human thermos pitch in Making a Man, and—inexplicably—during Haselden's section of Glitzy Finale. One of these things is not like the others. Haselden, buddy, that is not what this music is for, but you've got the spirit :)

FIVE PART HARMONIES!! FIVE PART HARMONIES!! GIVE ME THOSE WEIRD SUSPENDED CHORDS AND DIMINISHED INTERVALS!! GIMME THOSE CRUNCHY CHORDS AND THEN RESOLVE ON A FLAWLESS MAJOR TRIAD!! THIS IS WHAT HEAVEN FEELS LIKE