I know this is an older comment, but I wanted to respond to it with some context. The song The Life I never led and its reprise went through some interesting changes in regards to the big note that finished it. In the West End version of the song (which preceeded the US/US tour version), Sister Mary Robert ends the full version of the song by singing the last lines with a rather timid voice. A possible interpretation of this choice could be to indicate that Mary Robert is not yet brave enough to stand up for herself after all (even though the first steps are made). This could however come off as a little anticlimactic as we just spend a three minute song and a scene building towards a character breakthrough, that wouldn't come until later. She then sings the big note in the reprise towards the end of act two (which is otherwise identical to the version seen here), completing her arc and showing that she has now found her voice and would speak up for herself and others like Deloris. When Sister Act went to Broadway it underwent some major rewrites, including the editing, cutting and adding of songs. One of the edits is that the big note is moved to the full version of the song, giving the major pay off the song and scene appeared to warrant. In the reprise we now see that Mary Robert has not only made a decision, but was also willing to act on it - so the reprise is not redundant from a narrative point of view. However, we already heard the big note, and rather than singing it again, the book decides to move things along with dramatically interrupting the expected high note with the unexpected dramatic event of Curtis' intrusion into the convent. All this to say, they don't 'avoid' the high belt in the traditional sense, they just did it a bit earlier in the show.
Well done, Mary Robert!
I just got a callback for this role (sister Mary Roberts) so I’m seeing how different people have played her, so I know vaguely what I’m doing 😅
1:48 Avoided the high belt. LMAO
I know this is an older comment, but I wanted to respond to it with some context. The song The Life I never led and its reprise went through some interesting changes in regards to the big note that finished it. In the West End version of the song (which preceeded the US/US tour version), Sister Mary Robert ends the full version of the song by singing the last lines with a rather timid voice. A possible interpretation of this choice could be to indicate that Mary Robert is not yet brave enough to stand up for herself after all (even though the first steps are made). This could however come off as a little anticlimactic as we just spend a three minute song and a scene building towards a character breakthrough, that wouldn't come until later. She then sings the big note in the reprise towards the end of act two (which is otherwise identical to the version seen here), completing her arc and showing that she has now found her voice and would speak up for herself and others like Deloris. When Sister Act went to Broadway it underwent some major rewrites, including the editing, cutting and adding of songs. One of the edits is that the big note is moved to the full version of the song, giving the major pay off the song and scene appeared to warrant. In the reprise we now see that Mary Robert has not only made a decision, but was also willing to act on it - so the reprise is not redundant from a narrative point of view. However, we already heard the big note, and rather than singing it again, the book decides to move things along with dramatically interrupting the expected high note with the unexpected dramatic event of Curtis' intrusion into the convent. All this to say, they don't 'avoid' the high belt in the traditional sense, they just did it a bit earlier in the show.
@Erzbischof thank you I was looking for an explanation for this change and hoped I'd find one in the comments!
Can you post Spread the Love Around from this performance?