I saw it, on Broadway. I must admit, it doesn't really thrill me (I'm a huge musical fan, and I don't think the music is that great- plus, Stephen Schwartz is kind of weird- he was the judge at a singing contest I attended Friday night), but on stage, it's fun.

How funny, i'm totally NOT a musical guy. And I'm an actor. WTF? This was actually my first attendance to a broadway show so I have nothing to base it on. I'm typically not a fan of big, showy productions. I prefer to act in small, blackbox type theatres myself.

But I really did love the show. Perhaps it helped that I fell in love with the book first.

I like the story a lot; I think it's a great topic for a musical, and overall, it was really executed well.

I saw it two years ago when it was in Toronto and I really liked it. But, I must admit that I liked the book much better.

i saw it in NYC two times: once during premiers (before it opened) with the original cast of joel grey (the wizard), christine chenowith (glenda), idina menzel (the star witch, who IRL is married to taye diggs), etc...and then again about a year and a half later with new, second cast. of course, it was much *much* better with the principal cast. in fact, chenowith trained to be an opera singer, but was told repeatedly she was 'too short', so she decided to act and work b'way instead. but you can imagine her arias in 'wicked'. they were amazing. and idina menzel had a voice of someone i had never heard before.

i've seen tons of b'way, and this show is pretty good. there were articles all about it in the nytimes and new yorker, etc., about two years ago stating that 'wicked' to teenages and preteens is the same as 'rent' was to teenagers in the 90s. that is, it has elevated to the status of a cult favorite because there is something very relevant in the plot that appeals to everyone, especially teens.

Yea, I agree the cult status of Wicked is really interesting, particularly (IMO) because it's no longer a star vehicle. The producers realized people would still pay the same prices to see nobodies in the role, so now they're casting young women practically right out of college (to save money, I'm sure), and the show still sells out every week (weekly house capacity on Broadway- 14,472. Isn't it sick that I know that?). Very interesting.

Very interesting re: the cult status of Wicked. I would have loved to have seen it with it's original cast but Elphie and Glinda totally blew me away, as they should of course.

I was wary of the Glinda character until the bedroom seen (the "Popular" song). Megan Hilty really, really blew the roof off with her mannerisms and comic timing. She totally made the part her own I think. Did they do the "Swish, Swish" bit in the other shows?

I also loved the nod to Seattle in her line "You look...Emerald!" Then they do a little shuffle and wink to the audience. Funny as hell.

I've read the book, which was a surprisingly sophisticated political allegory. It had a lot to say about terrorism that for a pre-9/11 written book seemed jaw-droppingly apt to now. The show doesn't sound political at all.

The show still has a lot of political themes in it, Orange Swan, though not nearly as many as the book, I imagine.