Posted: 2/6/21 at 10:29am
jlindsey865 said: "I agree with ALL of this. As much as I enjoy the stage adaptation of Wicked (and I really, really, really do enjoy it), there is no way to ignore the major holes and problems within its book. I also hate that they decided to have Elphaba live at the end of the stage show. Full disclosure: I have attempted to read McGuire's book several times, but can never get through it. Does she survive in the book? It seems like such a cheap attempt for applause (which, to be fair, every time I've seen the show, there is a huge applause).
I hope that the film's director will take what is incredibly charming and touching about the stage version while figure out how to patch up the plot holes and flesh out its many one-dimensional characters."
Besides Elphaba "dying" at the end (which I prefer) there are some things the show did better, plot-wise, than the book. For one example, the Wizard explicitly explains why the Animals are made outcasts...you need to group the populace around a common enemy. If there isn't one, you create one. That may have been implicit in the book, but I like how it's said out loud in the play. And politically very astute.
As I Facebooked on the musical's fifteen year anniversary: "Wicked: Teaching twelve year old girls to fight fascism since 2003"