As someone who saw early previews of both Lempicka and Operation Mincemeat, let me tell you, there is no comparison - in both quality of product and of forum responses. Granted, I made it through both acts of Lempicka, but it really was a train wreck that had to be witnessed. Mincemeat was just annoying and kind of boring, so I thought it was a better use of my time not to be there.
But make no mistake, Lempicka is a far worse musical than Mincemeat. While a bit too smugly clever for its own good, in my opinion, the lyrics and storytelling of Mincemeat are nonetheless clever. It doesn’t inspire a vitriol because it’s not terribly offensive; it just requires an appreciation of a specific type of humor.
Anyhoo, let’s not make this anything it’s not. The size of the Golden alone compared to the Fortune means more eyes will be on this, per performance, so we’re naturally going to see more variation in responses. Add to that the cultural divide in comedic and historical sensibilities, and the natural backlash that comes from a whole new group of people seeing a wildly critically acclaimed show for the first time, and you have what we’re seeing here in this preview thread. (Not to mention the fact that there are people who saw this pre-Broadway and also didn’t like it, but whatev.)