PS. Mrs. Potts is supposed to be a Contralto, so that is absolute PROOF that what you stated is the TRUTH.
It WAS “political”.
The same thing happened to one of my students, Liz, a Soprano, who was cast as Anita in West Side Story, while a wishy-washy lyric soprano was cast as Maria. It was ABSOLUTELY political, but I assured Liz that “Anita” was actually a better role. More Powerful, Interesting, and Exciting. Then I introduced her to the Opera “Carmen” where the Lyric Soprano (Micaela) was not nearly as interesting as the “Bad Girl Mezzo Soprano” (Carmen) and compared the roles.
She knocked ‘em dead as Anita!
“..Contralto...”
yes!!!! I had to fight tooth and nail to get them to transpose it into a higher key for my daughter’s voice. They did - they knew she needed a higher key but at first resisted because it would have taken some trouble because the orchestra, etc, needs the new key for the “Beauty and the Beast” song.
Now lest one think I was an interfering stage mother type and obnoxious - I was not - I stayed outside the fray and said not a word and simply sent an e mail requesting the key change worded very politely. To top it off - I lobbied some big corporations - including Air Liquide (Union Carbide), Corning fiberglass, and some other local manufacturing companies in the local area for funding and successfully raised $1,200.00 for the production even though she was given Potts.
Final: at the production someone from the Harrt school of Music in Ct. was there watching a different relative student altogether and she came up to my daughter after the show and told her her voice was amazing and she ought to go on to college for voice and said not a word to “Belle”.