Vern,
I was never blessed with a "broadway" range. My voice is mostly a baritone with a few "gifts" from the lower tenor range once in a while. Because of that - I do mostly everything in different keys than the original. My Phantom medely started in C, but after a few years, smokely bars and 6 nights of singing per week ... I lowered it to B(using the transpose key)
I now do the first few balads in B, then "Wishing" is in Bb and when the pipe organ kicks in, I'm in Cm, so the POTO song starts on an Fm chord when the vocal starts.
In these keys I can stay within the most powerful areas of my range without fear of missing or cracking notes.(like poor Carlotta does in the play!)
Don't be a slave to original keys. The "RIGHT" key is the one that the lead can perform in, whether it's vocal or instrumental.
There are VERY few songs I do in the original keys. REALLY, really few.
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