I normally wouldn't make a Wicked thread but...was the ending changed? SPOILERS

The thing that truly got me p.o.ed about Wicked was the ending. The rest of the show was good/okay, but that schmaltzy, tacked on ending that was tremendously corny, inexplicable, and creates an enormous continuity error for all of the Oz books after "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz"...that I could not forgive. It was demeaning to the very character of Elphaba...she is supposed to be a tragic hero. Having her narrowly escape by a trap door that just *happened* to be under her when it was convenient is just plain stupid.
But the rest of the show seems to take itself seriously.
And there are no new set pieces or costumes introduced in the last scene; in fact, it seems very tacked on and sloppily put together.
And then I remembered that on the (way too long) Wicked segment of the PBS Broadway miniseries, Steven Schwartz said somthing to the effect of "Nearly up to the show's opening we were getting rid of and replacing scenes"
I bet some of these scenes probably would've helped in the character development department; characters like Nessa, Boq, and the Wizard lacked any kind of depth.
These scenes must have been taken out because preview audiences thought the show was too boring and slow.
Do you think maybe the ending of Wicked was changed because the little kids didn't like that Elphaba died at the end?
If anybody saw the show before it opened, please tell me, and about any additional scenes that didn't make the cut.

This could have been a great show.

I LOVE Wicked, but I too was bothered by the musical's disregard for the world created by L. Frank Baum. I've read all the books and was troubled that the show and the books cannot be reconsiled. I would've preferred that Elphaba truly died at the end of the show instead of the happy ending. Additionally, it bothered me that Elphaba was responsible for "creating" the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Cowardly Lion. Anyone who knows Baum's first book knows how the Tin Man became what he is. It was far too convenient that the Wicked Witch was responsible for the creation of all 3 classic characters. Other than than, I love Wicked.

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Updated On: 1/28/05 at 04:01 PM

I agree, the characters definately should have stayed as they were because the book (and Baum's books) say many times how these characters "came to be" and it has nothing to do with Elphaba; but I do think it was sort of clever how they tied the characters together.

Exactly; and it's a perfect show for all the illiterates who have only seen the movie. And that's a lotta people.

I think the ending in a way undermines the rest of the show. It's warm and fuzzy, but it just doesn't work.

What bothers me too is how the Glinda we see in the beginning and in the end act like different characters, though they're technically the same (post-melting, post-"For Good", yet the Glinda in the opening scene doesn't act like she's been changed).

Argh.

In the book, Elphaba dies at the end.

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TGIF- AIDA had that ending because Radames and Aida vow to find each other, no matter how many lifetimes it takes. Reincarnation was HUGE in Egypt and the end of AIDA just brings another authentic Egyptian point into the show.

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True true. What was the ending in the opera?

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BW- I could be wrong about Egypt, but I don't think I am.

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I don't think the ending is a cop-out at all. I think it is even MORE dramatic that instead of the convienant "Well, Elphaba dies and some people are sad" they chose an even stronger point in "Elphaba lives and her best friend will never know and neither will anyone"

Doesn't that make sense? Kind of like how people don't believe in the death sentance, because they think a person would suffer more if they lived with the guilt of what they did?

Elphaba simply dying would be too easy. But the fact that she can never tell ANYONE she is alive and she has to start anew and she KNOWS her best friends thinks she is DEAD is much more dramatic.

We as the audience have the perspective to observe this. What pulls at our heart-strings is that we know she is alive, yet Glinda will never know.

I think that's brilliant!

let me clarify my post:

I meant that "we" [not all of us mind you] put too much thought into analyzing the show[s].

Also, just a thought...I know this on the relationship between the books and the musical..but in the movie of "The Wizard Of Oz" didn't they announce that the Scarcrow was going to become the new leader of Oz? That also doesn't work with the musical...

The ending sucks. It's not dramatic like people have said. She melts. I don't even like the ending of Maguire's book. Dorothy throws the water on the witch while she bathes and she dies. That's it. There shouldn't be any other ending.

As for the tinman, scarecrow and lion ideas, I actually like that. It gives more of a connection to the characters.