I agree with your assessment of the 2 shows and their scores. Aida is a lot more fun, although the show itself has a lot of tragedy in it. The writers wisely included a framing device that kind of gives the story a happier, more hopeful ending. John's songs are immensely entertaining in the show, but also are very enjoyable as a listening experience on disc.
The Elliot score is very book specific -- it's an incredibly powerful, emotion packed story. However, the listening experience on disc is not as much fun as listening to Aida. Nevertheless, as a hopeless theatre geek, the Elliot recording does bring back happy memories to me of the show and that's why I bought it. I don't listen to it as often as I listen to both the concept and OBC recordings of Aida. |
