I've seen Wicked at the Oriental/Ford in Chicago from both the dress circle (side, not even front row) and front row balcony seats, and I have to say that the dress circle seats were much better (and much cheaper....$29 IIRC).

Front row balcony was not bad ($45?) and all the seats are certainly much cheaper than seeing Wicked in NYC. The show is EXACTLY the same except for one small detail (which is actually better in the Chicago production). You could also get better tickets in Chicago with less lead-time than needed in NYC.

Additionally, they run a $25 orchestra ticket lottery in Chicago at 5pm before the evening shows and those tickets seemed relatively easy to get (held during the week in the Oriental lobby; on weekends held at the Borders bookstore on the corner of State and Randolph).