Now, now Foster. If you want to get technical, there are two different kinds of flops: critical and financial. There is no such thing as a critical hit or flop. Some shows are considered successes even though they fail to pay off. (Hal Prince often cites PACIFIC OVERTURES as an example. "It was a flop, but it was a success," he says.)
Yes, shows can get great reviews and still lose money and some shows that get mixed or poor reviews can make huge profits. (PHANTOM OF THE OPERA is a perfect example of this.)
Some people take the Flop designation so personally, as if it were a personal attack on the show. It is JUST a designation, and as I have said many times unless you are an investor the designation should not matter to you. For those of us who collect Braodway stats it matters only as a point of reference.
Foster, as a p.o.r. I believe BALLYHOO did pay off by the time it closed but at present I cannot lay my hands on my copy of the June 1998 Variety that would confirm this.
And B3TA07, as of Variety's end of season report in June of 2008 CURTAINS was still listed as Status Not Dtermined. So unless it somehow paid off in the final 4 weeks of its run - which is is highly unlikely - it was indeed a financial failure.
Cast albums are NOT "soundtracks."
Live theatre does not use a "soundtrack." If it did, it wouldn't be live theatre!
I host a weekly one-hour radio program featuring cast album selections as well as songs by cabaret, jazz and theatre artists. The program, FRONT ROW CENTRE is heard Sundays 9 to 10 am and also Saturdays from 8 to 9 am (eastern times) on www.proudfm.com