(MONEY Magazine) – In 1982, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, a stage version of the 1954 MGM movie musical, opened on Broadway. David Landay, producer and co-author of the show's book, had raised $1.25 million--nothing for a Broadway show today but a significant amount then--from a variety of angel investors to mount the production, which starred Debby Boone. But Seven Brides did not find favor with Frank Rich, then the theater critic at the New York Times. Rich described the musical as a "threadbare touring package that mistakenly unpacked on Broadway last night." After three performances, the show closed.

Nearly 18 years later, Seven Brides has become a staple of light-opera companies, community theaters and student groups. It's not the first Broadway disaster to find a modest second life far from the Great White Way. But there's more: This fall, Landay is opening a new production at the Folies-Bergere in Paris. And within the year, Landay hopes to make a kind of theatrical history by paying back all of his original investors. He says he's never heard of a Broadway bomb doing so.

Those backers bought stakes in the production that would expire in 18 years. Because the original Broadway production had crashed and burned, none of them had expected ever to see that money again. "Everyone was, shall we say, a big boy," Landay says.

But over the years, as dinner theaters and colleges licensed the show, angels began to receive small checks. By May 2000, Landay says, he will have paid off the entire original investment.

Eighteen years just to break even would be pretty dismal performance for just about any kind of investment--except a Broadway show, which is almost guaranteed to lose money unless it becomes an enormous hit. Landay says, "The very first thing you tell investors is not to put any money into a Broadway show that they can't afford to lose. It's like setting your money on fire. You have to think of it that way."

--PETER CARBONARA