Most crucially, at the center of this production was the powerfully acted and ideally sung performance by Jonathan Michie as Alan Turing. A tall, gaunt baritone, Michie captured the workings of Turing’s extraordinary brain.
He was, beyond question, a genius — a brilliant English mathematician and logician, and a crucial force behind the development of computer science who is renowned for his invaluable work as a codebreaker of Nazi Germany’s secret communications during World War II.But Alan Turing also was a tragic figure, driven to an early death by chemical castration because of his homosexuality, which during his lifetime , was treated as a crime in Britain.
With decidedly modern music by Justine F. Chen and a libretto by David Simpatico, the production, directed by Peter Rothstein, featured a strong cast and an excellent orchestra conducted by COT’s ever adventurous music director, Lidiya Yankovskaya. Adding to the drama was a chorus that hovered over designer Benjamin Olsen’s set and served as witness to Turing’s life, which was marked by both his brilliant abstract thinking and intense emotional pain.
Justin Berkowitz, Joseph Leppek, Jonathan Michie and Teresa Castillo in “The Life and Death of Alan Turing.” The undoing of Turing came after he encountered a homeless man with whom he had sex and who he reported as robbing him. This eventually led to Turing being charged with “gross indecency” for which he was arrested in 1952. He died two years later.