Claire-Marie Hall Gives the Backstage Scoop at OPERATION MINCEMEAT
Claire-Marie is making her Broadway debut in Operation Mincemeat!
By: Stephi Wild May. 13, 2025
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We all know how much hard work goes into the performances that audiences see eight times a week on Broadway. When they're not giving it their all onstage, most performers are backstage doing what it takes to stay happy, healthy, and ready to go between scenes. In Words From The Wings, BroadwayWorld is taking fans behind the curtain to shine a spotlight on the everyday routines that keep Broadway stars moving.
In this edition, we catch up with Claire-Marie Hall, currently starring in Operation Mincemeat on Broadway. Below, she takes us backstage at the Golden Theatre (with photos by Jennifer Broski) to share some of her backstage must-haves, pre-show rituals, and more!
What’s the first thing you do when you arrive to the theatre?
I’d love to say that I arrive calm and collected, glide up the stairs to my dressing room, give myself a good amount of time to deposit my belongings and properly relax before I head off to get my hair done. However, the reality is that I usually arrive in a sweat because I’ve misjudged the New York weather and worn too many layers, run breathlessly up the maaaaany stairs whilst making a mental note that I need to go to the gym more, quickly scoff the take away I’ve grabbed on my way in because I’ve left so late to eat it, and then rush into hair where Matty (our wonderful hair and make-up supervisor) reminds me to breathe. All of this before I have to run back down the many stairs because I’ve forgotten to sign in again!
What’s the last thing you do before you go on stage?
Do a last minute check that I’ve got the correct props in my pockets. If you’ve seen the show, you will understand that hats, props and pockets maketh the show! And if you’ve got the wrong ones…well, you’re in for a bumpy ride…
What’s your must-have backstage snack?
Wintergreen Lifesaver mints. I’m obsessed. There’s a pot of them that I keep on my dressing room table and now another pot on my coffee table at home. I don’t know what they put in them but I need it consistently in my life.
Pre-show ritual that others may think is weird?
We’ve had some fun ones on this show over the years. From zip-zap-boing at the five during our earlier runs to reciting our designated Spice Girl names behind the curtain when it came to the second West End cast. We haven’t ended up doing anything collectively for this particular run, but I do quickly run through the opening lyrics to ‘God That’s Brilliant’ in the wings every show before curtain up, even though after five years of doing this show you’d think I’d be assured that I know them.
What are five must-haves in your dressing room?
Lifesaver mints
This fun little humidifier/speaker/disco light thing that we bought on sale for the dressing room and has now more or less become our third roommate
A phone charger because I spend too much time on my phone
Lifesaver mints again
Jessi Kirtley (she’s one of the incredible covers on the show and who I share a dressing room with. Every dressing room should have a Jessi)
What’s your favorite moment from the show to watch from the wings?
There’s a short, silly scene that Zoë and Dave perform as a hapless character called Haselden and a Spanish doctor called Pobil. Tash and I have just exited the stage and have to wait in the wings for a few minutes before we re-enter again. I’ve watched this scene countless times - I stress the word ‘countless’ as we’ve been doing this show a long time - and they STILL manage to make me laugh. Their physicality and comic timing, honestly it’s just masterful.
What has been your favorite backstage moment in your time with this show so far?
There’s been so many wonderful moments with this show that it’s so hard to choose a specific one. Watching the curtain go down on the first show here (which officially marked all five of our Broadway debuts), and then grabbing each other backstage in a big group hug with this huge sense of ‘we just did that’, is definitely up there on the list though.
About Claire-Marie Hall
Claire-Marie trained at Mountview Academy and is currently playing Jean Leslie in the Olivier Award winning Operation Mincemeat at the Fortune Theatre, a role she originated in the West End. Further theatre credits include Jean Leslie in Operation Mincemeat (Southwark Playhouse & Riverside Studios), Cosette in Les Miserables (West End), U/S Dea in The Grinning Man (West End), Cynthia Houston/Mama Mega in Spies Are Forever – West End Concert (Tin Can Bros/Lambert Jackson), Gabriella Montez in High School Musical (Hammersmith Apollo & National Tour), Tuptim in The King & I (National Tour), Innkeeper’s Wife in The Wicker Husband (Watermill Theatre), The Colours (Soho Theatre), On Hostile Ground (Northampton Royal & Derngate), The Wonderful Storybook (Theatre Peckham), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Outdoor Tour, Scoot Theatre), Jesus Christ Superstar (Frinton Summer Theatre), The Sorrows Of Satan (Tristan Bates Theatre), Between Empires (St James’ Theatre & Edinburgh Festival) and Aladdin (First Family Entertainment, Jordan Productions & Hackney Empire). Film and TV: Just Up Your Street and Aladdin (BBC Wales). Radio: When The Dog Dies and My Brilliant Divorce (BBC Radio 4).
