How much you, how much the song?
This is question that various genres answer in different ways. In jazz, what you do with the song is valued much more highly than what the song looks like on the page. But if you’re a musical theatre performer, your interpretation choices need to fall within a fairly narrow spectrum of acceptable. The same is true of every genre: you can place them somewhere on a range between “Completely the performer” and “Completely the song.”
As both a performer and an arranger, one challenge can be taking a song that is strongly associated with one performance, and adding your own interpretation. When a song is indelibly linked with one performance, it is impossible for listeners to draw a line between performer and song, so any performance that deviates from the original can be viewed as heresy – particularly when it is translated into a genre that values creative interpretation of the song.
Where you draw your own interpretive line is a good cue for what genre will work best for you – what kind of music you want to make. There is room for all, from cover band to freely improvised performances a la the Jarrett/DeJohnette/Peacock trio.