I recently read the original plot outline for Wicked the musical, which Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman drafted together in 1998 and which is on display at the Museum of Broadway in New York. The differences from the current musical are many and very interesting.
But one aspect was the same: the rewrite of the novel's ending to have Elphaba fake her death, Fiyero become the Scarecrow through Elphaba's magic, and the two of them leave Oz together.
I was surprised to see this. Somewhere I had read that in the musical's earliest workshops, Elphaba really did melt. But I guess whoever made that claim was misinformed, because this outline predates any workshops, yet Elphaba lives.
Since I read it, I've been thinking. At this early stage of the show's creation, Glinda's role was much smaller than it ultimately became. Kristin Chenoweth obviously hadn't been cast in the role yet; from all I've read, it was really only with her talent and charisma that Glinda was enhanced from a supporting character into the co-lead and the whole plot was retooled from just "the story of Elphaba" into "the story of Elphaba and Glinda's friendship." While the '98 outline doesn't revolve around Elphaba's relationship with any one person, I will say that in this early concept of the show, her most important relationship is her romance with Fiyero. (Although her relationships with Nessarose and Dr. Dillamond also get more stage time, which was reduced in favor of more Glinda time in the final script.)
This makes sense of what I've read elsewhere, that "As Long As You're Mine" was the first song Stephen Schwartz wrote for the show. The outline suggests titles for several of the songs, but "As Long As You're Mine" is the only song that already has its final title, and the show's finale was originally going to be an "As Long As You're Mine" reprise. The whole show was more Fiyeraba-centric.
(Just for the heck of it, I'd like to hear some fans record a rearrangement of the finale replacing the "For Good" reprise with "As Long As Your Mine," just to hear how it sounds intertwined with "No One Mourns the Wicked" – or rather, with "No One Loves the Wicked," as that song is called in the outline – and create a sense of what this different finale might have sounded like.)
I'm always interested in subtle inconsistencies (or what some people think are inconsistencies) within works of fiction, and looking at possible explanations for them (multiple writers, multiple drafts that changed the story, etc.) I've been thinking of how a certain subset of Wicked fans find Elphaba's ending to be frustrating and unsatisfying. Even knowing that it's supposed to be bittersweet, how can she choose to leave in the end with a man whose relationship with her has been so much less important and less emphasized than her bond with Glinda, without even letting Glinda know she's alive?
Personally, I've never had a problem with the ending, and I think Elphaba can genuinely love and be happy with Fiyero without diminishing what she shares with Glinda in the least. But for anyone who does dislike it, I think it's valid to point out that it was conceived for a very different version of the musical. One where Elphaba's romance with Fiyero was more central and her friendship with Glinda less so. If you think it doesn't quite fit with the current Elphie-and-Glinda centric musical, it makes sense to feel that way.

















