I just got home from seeing Wicked, which was a wonderful experience.
I loved the book (once I got into it-it did take a couple of tries). The book is an intensely moving, highly political story. The musical is slightly like using the claw game to remove the characters and take only the pieces that cling most tightly to them. It is still moving and political, but it is refined into its sparest essence. This isn't bad, because there is less time in the musical to show everything, though it does leave the end as a bit jarring.
Vocally it was amazing. The women's voices ranged from high - top of my range or higher - to wonderful alto/contralto/tenor lines. I'm sure I could sing these pieces. Not as well as these singers, but I itch to find time and money for voice lessons again. Voice lessons are definitely one of the best things I've done for myself. They helped me get past the idea I had no ear, no pitch recognition and no ability to sing. The lessons gave me more confidence in my vocalization and gave me techniques to help reach the proper pitches, produce fuller sound, and vocally bring out the nuances in each phrase.
Oh, and I want to be Elphaba.
