clef usage by vocal type

Opera
Soprano - treble clef
Mezzo - treble clef, alto clef
Contralto - treble clef, alto clef
Tenor - transposed treble clef, tenor clef
baritone - bass clef
bass - bass clef

Musicals
Soprano - treble clef
Mezzo - treble clef
Contralto - treble clef
Tenor - treble clef
baritone - treble clef
bass - treble clef

me: okay so the sopranos use treble clef
musicals: yea
me: and the tenors use transposed treble clef?
musicals: uh no
me: then where do i read if im supposed to transpose or not?
musicals: thats the cool part u dont

me: okay but constantly counting ledger lines below the staff just to puzzle out baritone and bass parts makes them hard to read
musicals: sad but true. alas if only there was another way
me: why dont u put them on the bass clef
musicals: cant do that, it would make them too hard to read

me: whys everybody gotta be on treble clef?
musicals: this is music democratized! now everyone can read their part without the high barrier to entry of some other clef. this is for performers not some ivory tower phd in music theory

[28 years ago]
music teacher: this is the bass clef
8 year old me: ok

I suspect this practice goes on in the scores of musicals because performers are more likely to learn their role by listening to it played on a piano than by singing it off of the sheet music directly but I don't have any professional musical singer friends so I don't actually know. This means of learning a part is disdained in opera, tho it was good enough for Pavarotti, who never learned to read music (it is not actually good enough for classical unless you have the ear of Pavarotti too)

the bass clef is easy because it's almost tablature - it's an abstraction that resembles the physical reality. top line is the A string, middle line is the D string, bottom line is the G string.

what do u mean u dont play the cello? get outta here