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“You can feel the excitement,” said Tshombe Selby, a tenor who plays a tailor.

Mr. Hoare’s commercial soldiering began in 1961, when he traveled to Congo to fight for Moise Tshombe, who sought to establish a breakaway state in the wealthy Katanga province.

The revolt failed — Mr. Hoare later said two of his men were cannibalized by enemy forces — but three years later, Tshombe rose to become the country’s prime minister, positioning himself as a staunch American ally and anti-communist crusader.

Treating Congo as a Cold War battleground, U.S. authorities encouraged Tshombe to hire mercenaries such as those led by Mr. Hoare, who called communism “the greatest cancer the world has ever known.”

But it was in 1961 that he was introduced to Moïse Tshombe - a Congolese politician and businessman who would go on to become prime minister of the Congo three years later.