Transposing songs for auditions - yea or nay?

So I'm considering putting "I'm Alive" from Next to Normal in my playbook. It's sung by a young man (I'm 18) and the character is one I can portray well and convincingly.

Thing is, I'm a pretty solid baritone (G2-G4 effective singing range, though I have some notes on either end), and the song is written for a high tenor. I can sing it well if it's transposed, but in the original key I can't do it without going into falsetto, which isn't exactly my strong suit.

So is transposing audition songs fine and dandy, or is the vocal range considered part of the character for the song?

Musical theatre is a little more lenient on things like that than, say, opera, but generally a number of audition notices to say "bring music in correct key." So I don't know. I guess it depends on what they're looking for.

If I recall correctly, though, "I'm Alive" isn't that high. If you have a consistent high G then you should be able to sing it, as it doesn't go higher than that except for a falsettoed high D. I know another baritone who has that song in his repertoire and did part of it for a competition.

edited 6th Jul '13 10:13:50 PM by Pannic

You pretty much have to write the key somewhere anyway, so transposing isn't too big of a deal.