The life of Alan Turing seems like an unlikely subject for a musical. But for Timothy L. Michuda and Benjamin Ward, it inspired Turing—which releases its concept EP on Oct. 9 as the duo continue to develop it for the stage. How did they land on that subject? And how did they find a way to tell not one but three stories out of Turing’s history?

TVBrittanyF.com spoke to Michuda about what in Turing’s life inspired him creatively. He also discussed the growing subgenre of biographical musicals and revealed his favorite songs from the EP. Plus, learn what it was like for him to collaborate with a wide range of performers on the record.

Brittany Frederick: What was it about Alan Turing’s story that you were able to connect with? Were you familiar with him before you started?

Timothy L. Michuda: [I] really didn’t know Alan Turing as a person—who is he really beyond just [being a] codebreaker? As I started to read into his biography and learn about who he was as a child and a young adult, and a more grown adult, it really resonated with me… His whole life is just searching for love, wanting to be loved and understood and accepted, and that to us was dramatic, it’s impactful, we can both relate to this personally. And yes, it’s historical, but it’s also very timely now in this whole era of AI.

There have been more musicals based on the lives of historical figures recently, most obviously Hamilton but also Marie Curie, to name two. Were you encouraged by the fact that this subgenre has expanded, or did that factor in for you at all?

Obviously Hamilton made a big splash, and that to me was a big moment of okay, historical figure that people have heard of, but don’t know a ton about. But this idea of intersection of music and science and math is really intriguing to me. I am a civil engineer by day and a musical theater composer by night, and to me it’s so fascinating—the codebreaking, the math and science, the computational sense of Turing’s story.

At the same [time], we want to humanize that too. It’s not just wow, what impressive things did he do? No one wants to watch a musical of rattling off his great accomplishments. [We’re] getting into the human side of, what were his hopes and dreams? When did he get to open up and be himself and try to find love?

But in the score, in the music, there are a lot of those hidden ciphers, codebreaking sonically—a lot of mechanical elements that we’ve woven into the score to bring you into the world, but then also to humanize it. There are some hidden moments in some of the songs where the rhythm or the melody is actually Morse code… And there’s a lot of other things, pulling melodies from his early childhood timeline into moments when he’s reflecting back, so there’s also tying between timelines. A lot of hidden Easter eggs for people to find as they get into the story.

The concept EP is that big first step, introducing listeners to not just the sound but the potential of Turing as a musical. How did you decide what to put on the record?

It’s a couple of things. Number one, we wanted to highlight different styles of music in the show.One of the first tracks on the full EP is the opening number of the show. It’s got these mechanical clickings and these cool synths underneath, and so you get like the spooky, intense codebreaking vibe from the first downbeat. We’ve got like big ensemble song that’s kind of boppy and upbeat, but then you’ve got like the heartfelt duet, and you’ve got the angsty solo, and then the very traditional classic musical theater, like Les Mis-style ballad.

Foor us to be able to feature the range of styles of music in the show, that’s something we wanted to showcase on the EP. That’s not to say these are the only good six songs in the show. This was really hard to edit down. How do we pick our favorites, and we want to give enough of a taste that’s like, what else do you have without revealing too much of the full show?

The Turing EP features several great performers on it. Can you talk about assembling the roster of talent to get your songs off the page, and what they bring to the project?

I’m so, so thrilled by the people who said yes to this project. The three main Alans I worked with in New York were Mason Olshavsky, who’s got this incredible TikTok following. He was in The Baker’s Wife off-Broadway, and now he’s in The Lost Boys on Broadway. And then Vincent Jamal Hooper was in Hamilton, and he was doing eight shows a week as Simba on Broadway, and now he’s working on, I think, a Netflix TV show. Those two Alans actually were in our original showcase when we first did the show almost four years ago now and we loosely kept in touch.

They knew the work, they had sung some of the material, so when I asked them hey, any chance you’d be able to find some time to do this thing? Both of them were like oh my gosh, I’m in. And as a writer that’s so exciting, when actors are excited to do your material… It made such a fun environment in the recording studio, working with these incredible singers and hearing their take on our show. We started, as any theater writer starts, with these gritty demos with Ben playing piano and me layering ten tones of vocals, but to hear such seasoned and incredible vocalists singing the material is just a true joy.

What stands out to you about the Turing EP? Is there anything you want to highlight to listeners as they dive into the musical?

The first single we have out, “Amongst the Stars,” is this gorgeous duet. It’s part of Alan-16’s timeline, and he’s off at Cambridge taking his placement exams. He sneaks off to the observatory with Christopher, who is his childhood friend, but also kind of his first romantic attraction; they sneak off to the observatory to look through the most powerful telescope at the time. They’re geeking out over astronomy, and the whole song is imagining a perfect world, free from the daily burdens of their life. They’re imagining [that] amongst the stars there are no problems, no sickness or disease, and writing that song with Ben was one of the most magical things.

Too often as a writer, you’re always putting the pressure on yourself of what is the next moment, the next melody, the next scene—sometimes even just what’s the next line. Smetimes you can get stuck in the pressure of trying to write something good, but having those moments where you’re just in the right headspace and it just flows out of you… [It] was such a magical moment, and is probably one of my favorite songs in the show.

We’ve spoken about the creative process, but what has this experience been like for you personally?

Four or five years ago I was working full time as a civil engineer. I still have a full time day job as a civil engineer, doing consulting, but I had always had this dream to write a musical. I said someday I’ll pursue music more, someday I’ll think about writing a show, and finally [during] COVID, I had way more time on my hands than I knew what to do with. I sat down to learn Logic Pro and I just started writing. I had this idea that was running around in my head for a while, and just started writing an opening number, and then an ensemble number, then a belty female ballad, and then the angsty male ballad.

I ended up using that as my portfolio to apply to Berklee College of Music, and when I got in for a Master’s there in writing theater, that was the first validation of, maybe I can do this thing… I’ve been so touched and amazed by how welcoming and grateful everyone is in the theater world. Just bringing your whole authentic warm self, I feel like that energy reciprocates in that if you put that out into the world, people are reciprocating that back to say, you know what, yeah, I’ll try it. I’ll sing on your project, I’ll try that, and not being afraid to fail.

For people who listen to the EP and love it, how can they support the show and help get it to that next step? What does the future look like for Turing?

I would love to get some folks on board to do an industry reading, a workshop, a presentation. We’ve put the show on its feet already a few times. We did a reading as part of a new musical festival. There were 18 shows in the festival, and we ended up winning Best Musical, which was super-cool. And then we did the first stage production of it, a slightly abridged version with Blue Demon Theater—DePaul University’s theater in Chicago—and people were sobbing, and so emotionally moved. It’s rough around the edges, we’re still revising and figuring things out, but people were talking about the songs a year later, two years later.

If we can have that much of an impact with things kind of rough around the edges, I’m just excited to see the next stage of, what if we polish it? What if we get a great director on board and a creative team to really advance the vision and bring some great talent—like the team and some of the awesome singers. Bring them to do a workshop.

Stream the Turing EP here; for more information on the musical and to request perusal materials, visit turingmusical.com. You can also follow creators Timothy L. Michuda and Benjamin Ward on Instagram at @timothy.tuxedo and @benwardmd. Photo Credit: Headshot courtesy of Skollar PR; recording photo by Rachel Bard/Courtesy of Skollar PR.

Article content is (c)2020-2026 Brittany Frederick and may not be excerpted or reproduced without express written permission by the author. Follow me on Twitter at @BFTVTwtr and on Instagram at @BFTVGram. For story pitches, contact me at tvbrittanyf@yahoo.com.