"Keys get changed all the time in musicals. It's a fact. So-called "original scores" are the product of placing songs in keys that work for those particular performers. It's not quite the same thing we think of as in classical music, where a concerto in G is always a concerto in G, lol. Obviously changing keys takes time and money to produce new materials, so it's avoided when it can be avoided. But in a case like this, where the cross-gender casting is the point of the production, I'm sure it's going to be done extensively. And it will be fine. Our ear only gets used to so-called "original keys" because we play the albums over and over again. ;-) "
That's all very true, but I would also say: It depends. For example, in PIPPIN, the Leading Player sings "Magic to Do" with the chorus, and he sings "On the Right Track" with Pippin. Because the role was originally conceived for a male, the choral parts were written with a mind toward those keys, and so was the other male vocal part in the other song. When the keys are changed drastically, as for an alto belt, sometimes it just doesn't sound right to me, and I don't think it's just because I'm used to the original keys. |
