I have the comic sensibility of a G&S character part and the voice of a G&S heroine. I will never again (assuming I ever did [g]) have the body type of a seventeen-year-old child, but I could probably go either way depending on the costumes, makeup, and people around me. Heh.

You're not wrong about most societies, of course, but one tries to stay on the right side of the line between what one can do, and what one should. ;-)

I think it's less wrong for a younger woman to play the 40-odd alto than it would be for an older woman to play the 20-odd soprano.