JOEL GOODMAN is the producer and composer of Alan Turing: The Musical (with Jan Osborne), beginning a further run at London’s King’s Head Theatre this week (7-18 March 2023).
The show was written during the final UK lockdown in 2021. Upon completion, the musical debuted at Theydon Bois Village Hall, Epping in July 2022, before going on to a sell-out run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and then on to its initial season at the King’s Head Theatre.
After initially training as a dancer at the London Studio Centre in 2010, Joel soon realised his main interest was music, often spending his time chatting and performing with the ballet pianists. For the last 13 years he has been coaching piano and singing and is proud to have seen students gain places at the Royal Academy of Music and purse other music degrees. Joel also coaches professional singers.
Joel opened Epping Music School in 2021 after Covid delayed his theatrical productions for two years and he enjoys teaching a variety of people of all ages and abilities.
He first debuted his work at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2019 with the musical Early Mornings. During the Covid lockdown he composed Lonely Joe which can be streamed online.
Here Joel continues Musical Theatre Review’s interview series: Five Questions With.. He is in conversation with Leon Ferguson.
Alan Turing is best known for his contribution to the breaking of the German Enigma Code during the Second World War, and for being persecuted for his sexuality which during his lifetime was illegal, a criminal offence. Which aspect most inspired you to tell his story?
Both of these aspects of Alan’s life are extremely important. I think I was equally inspired to write about Alan’s role in the war and his persecution for being gay. The work that Alan did in the Second World War remains unimaginable to me, as does much of that horrific period of modern history. War is a terrible and horrific event and the work led by Alan Turing at Bletchley Park managed to shorten the war and save millions of lives.
Alan Turing: The Musical runs at London’s King’s Head Theatre until 18 March 2023
Turing’s life and his criminal conviction are more accessible to a lay audience than the maths of a Fibonacci sequence or the odds of predicting a game of roulette. How closely were the actors involved in the creative process and was director Joe Maingot involved from the start? The staging went a long way to clarifying this content for maths dunces like myself.
Our production was initially self-directed for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2022. Aspects of that production carried over to our King’s Head Theatre run, however Joe Maingot redirected the show for London and developed a lighting plan for the show. At Edinburgh we had five lighting cues and in London nearly 90. The actors were highly involved in the creative process. We have lots of work ahead as we have a brand new script and two new songs for the Edinburgh Fringe this year and the entire show will be redirected.
The musical is about a gay man, his sexual identity and death. You cast this two hander with a male and a female voice, but some might consider two male voices more appropriate?
The casting of a male and female voice was made purely from a musical standpoint. I love the contrast harmonically between a male and a female voice. I would say it provides more musical colour than two male voices. You raise an interesting point though and it could be interesting to have a gay man playing the role of the biographer.
Jan Osborne is your co-producer and co-composer. How did the composing work? Did you input on the same songs, or did you each compose separately?
Generally speaking, I start a song at the piano. I may have the lyrics drafted in advance. I improvise melodic ideas and Jan and I agree on themes and ideas that emerge. We can invariably have humorous arguments over a single note or a harmony. I am quite a dictator and push many of my ideas through, but when Jan is determined she will make sure her edits and changes are incorporated. It is perhaps an unconventional partnership but it has worked for us superbly on this project and we are both very proud of our composing and producing work together.
Alan Turing: The Musical has been well received since its beginnings at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. You consider it a work in progress. Do you see it evolving into a much bigger work, or retaining its intimacy ?
I will not entertain the idea of writing musical theatre for a cast of more than three or four because I have to produce my own work at this point in my career. It’s really all down to money. If I were to write a large-scale musical the chances are that it would never see the light of day. However, if I achieve success with a small musical it would be a dream to write a larger piece.
kingsheadtheatre.com/whats-on/alan-turing-the-musical
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