This was good! I wasn't at all troubled by the divergences from the novel - a musical's a different kind of creature altogether, after all, and it's been cleverly reworked so as to stand satisfyingly on its own in a way which ties the ends up quite neatly (the only thing that gave me pause was the altered ending, but I suppose it's more in keeping with what has gone before than that of the book - and that it took me somewhat by surprise is probably a testament to how much of the darkness and ambiguity of Maguire's novel is retained amidst the colour and glitz of the stage version). For mine, none of the songs really stood out ("Defying Gravity" is closest) and there was maybe a tad too much reliance on repetition of one or two recurring motifs, but that didn't much matter in the face of the engaging story and characters, spectacular sets and all round energy; the best moments/songs mostly involved Glinda ("What Is This Feeling" and "Popular" jump to mind), who is a treat both as written and as performed by Lucy Durack, but Amanda Harrison's Elphaba isn't at all shaded. I didn't fall in love, but Wicked gave me more or less what I wanted and it was plenty of fun.
(w/ Kai, Steph, Tamara, Kathleen + James L, trang and Vegjie ... which was, as it turned out, pleasing from the Elphaba-association p.o.v.)
