It's like with Bock and Harnick: Their most successful show is "Fiddler on the Roof" - and it's probably also the most humanitarian of all their shows. I certainly like it, but it does not give me the same pleasure as, say, "The Apple Tree" does. With Leonard Bernstein, his big success and humanitarian entry is "West Side Story" but I enjoy "Candide" and "On the Town" far more. "Wonderful Town" was mostly new to me but it is one of those pleasant shows too.
The best-known number is "Ohio", but the outstanding number is "Wrong Note Rag", both of which are sung by Kim Criswell as Ruth and Audra McDonald as Eileen. Ruth should be the main character but as McDonald shamelessly outsings and outacts Criswell, Eileen is the character that shines the most. This is not surprising as Audra McDonald cannot help being outstanding - her coloratura in "Conversation Piece" is an earful but Criswell mostly sounds brassy and when the dialogue would require her to display emotion, she sounds as if she reads her lines from a page, skipping the directions. Everyone else, including Thomas Hampson and Brent Barrett, finds a position somewhere between these two extremes but it's Rodney Gilfry as the Guide in "Christopher Street" who provides the most glorious male tones on this recording.
There are several recordings of this score, many of which are said to be very good. Thus, I have no idea whether this is the optimal version - but for the time being it will certainly do.