I read the book a couple years ago, and remember liking it a lot...for about the first 3/4 of the book. After that I felt like I was wading through a particularly polemical portion of an Ayn Rand novel. I lost my sense of the story and characters as it got mired in dense political commentary. I suspected this wouldn't be the case in the musical version of the story, and I was not disappointed.
The show is impressive on many levels. The standard considerations are all superb: the costumes (Madame Morrible's Act I dress in particular was stunning), the singing and dancing, set design, special effects, and the flash and sizzle you expect for an $85 ticket. The two leads, played by Dee Roscioli (Elphaba) and Kate Fahrner (Glinda), were wonderful. Ms. Roscioli's voice is the kind that makes the skin on your skull feel too tight and goosebumps pop up down the whole length of your legs. Ms. Fahrner's voice is also lovely, but her greatest strength is her comedic ability. Her performance was downright hilarious.
The things that really sold me on this show, however, were its subversive message about power and the complex and nuanced nature of the two lead roles--the two lead FEMALE roles. Go to any cineplex today, and you'll see exactly how rare it is to find strong female characters who are defined by anything more than their relationship to the men. Wicked, however, offers us two strong and capable women, diametrically opposite in almost every way, except that they both crave power. They ultimately come to be defined for the audience by their relationships to power, and to each other. There is a romantic sub-plot as well, but it is just that: a sub-plot. The main event is their struggle to reconcile their friendship with their very different approaches to ethics and political power.
The story offers some not-so-subtle metaphors for regimes demonizing and persecuting members of society they deem threatening, and the usefulness of a common enemy when trying to unite a kingdom, whether or not that enemy is actually a threat.
At the end of Act I, the audience feels the conflict between two choices: being popular, or defying gravity and social convention in pursuit of honor and truth. By the show's conclusion, we are offered hope that it's possible to use the former in service of the latter.
Wicked offers both sizzle and substance; glitter and depth. It's a thrilling experience all around. Don't miss it when it comes to the Twin Cities this fall.