I’m rarely on here for reasons, but I do have quite an answer to this question. Just an apology right now, the formatting is going to be weird since I’m on mobile. Anyway, here we go.
To put in simply, the rest of the musical’s plot would be undetermined. This small act by Galinda is seriously one of the main catalysts of the show and people don’t often see that. Allow me to shed some light upon what I’m getting at; if Boq had never asked Nessa out, Nessa would never have convinced Elphaba to do something nice for Galinda, causing them to become closer friends. It’s true that the rest of the events (ie. the lion cub) may have still happened, but the chances of Elphaba inviting Glinda to the Emerald City would be undoubtedly lower. Galinda decides to be kind to Elphaba after she seemingly convinces Morrible to let Galinda into the sorcery seminar, but Elphaba doesn’t decide this on her own accord. No, she is doing it for Nessa. Not to mention, if Boq hadn’t asked Nessa out to the party, the sisters would have likely spent time together, both opting to not go. This would only solidify THEIR bond more and draw Elphaba further away from the social aspect of Shiz even more.
ALL OF THIS ASIDE, I think that Nessa’s regime still would be filled with manipulative tactics and other awful things. It isn’t necessarily Boq who leads her to be, dare I say, wicked. In my opinion, the only thing holding her back from completely lashing out IS him. It is the absence of Elphaba, who had always reined her in and shielded her from the world, that causes her to make such poor decisions. Without her father, she is left utterly alone - and without Boq, this isolation is only increased. Yes, many of her laws and amendments were made in order to keep Boq by her side, but I can’t imagine she wouldn’t find other things to take her anger out on. I suppose she would just attach herself to some other servant or person in the land; she cannot be alone, she won’t stand for such a thing.
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