I didn't actually see the musical, but I heard the soundtrack and read the script. It is very different. The musical seems to be more upbeat and deals more with the relationship between Elphie and Glinda. The book is more about the nature of evil. The last chapters had me all chocked up, as you read about Elphie spiraling towards her end. When she was clinging to hope that fiero was the scarecrow and attacking them randomly to make sure, it made me sad, especially since in the musical, the scarecrow IS Fiero.

I feel bad for Liir too. For sure the book was really sad. But good.