Margy's voice
I am completely tone deaf so please excuse this question.
Is the role of Margy aimed at a mezzo soprano? I read somewhere that it can also be sung by a contralto, but i'm not sure my source was reputable. Which was Jeanne?
Thanks.
Louanne Hogan, who dubbed for Jeanne Crain in STATE FAIR, CENTENNIAL SUMMER, MARGIE, and APARTMENT FOR PEGGY certainly seems to be a mezzo, but as she is singing for someone else, it's hard to know her real range. Her job was to sound as if her voice was coming from the same place as Jeanne Crain's speaking voice. A contralto is a lower female singing voice, while a mezzo-soprano refers to the darker quality of the soprano voice. Margy could be sung by either, based on the particular arrangement.
As the character is supposed to be around seventeen or eighteen, somewhat introverted and melancholy (and singing on film in close-up), the sound of a professionally or operatically trained voice of high range would be out of place. Even in the stage adaptation, the range is placed low as the actress playing the role also has to do a lot of dancing, which the character does not do in (either) film.