His accompanists are so dissonant that they often make singers sound off key, and they're written for the sake of making them difficult. His lyrics are great, though.
Webber doesn't like his stuff transposed? What? Have you heard his stuff? The movie of "Evita", for one? (Not that it's a great example.) Every Norma Desmond chose their own keys.
The key a song is in in the show is the key that the original performer sounded best in. There are exceptions - Kurt Weill, Leonard Bernstein - but by and large, put it in the key it sounds best for you.
And penciled-in chords above a standard is a totally appropriate way to bring a transposition to a pianist. JRB, Sondheim, anything pianistic, you need to write it out or you're taking a huge gamble. You may find one of the folks who can just do it on sight (there are several) or you may get someone who can't play it, period.
But I heartily, absolutely disagree with saying that you should only choose songs when the published key is good fo you. Transposition happens all the time. Even with Sondheim.
I think Sondheim is the polar opposite of fluff. Maybe your idea of fluff is witty and intelligent, moving lyrics set to amazing music, but that is definitly not fluff
Random- but hey MusicMan, you played Meadowlark without the music? That is crazy.
My poor sister, who cant read music, borrowed my sheet music for Meadowlark for an audition. The song was too difficult for the accompanist so then he asked her if she could read music and she said "no" so he said, "Well, I cant play this song for you because the piano isnt written in...its only the vocal lines." Which was absurd cuz I used that same sheet music for all of my colege auditions.