Lately about four plays per season close on the road in this manner. This fall's big road flop was the musicalization of Bruce Jay Friedman's novel, A Mother's Kisses. Friedman did his own adaptation (on the heels of his successful off-Broadway comedy, Scuba Duba), and it closed in Baltimore.

Still--and this is what keeps the ritual of the road alive--productions can be saved, or almost saved, on the road. An "almost saved" show is one that looks like an embarrassing flop on the road, but, through revisions, opens in New York to enough praise to keep it running eight or nine months. (Examples: the Julie Harris musical Skyscraper and last season's The Happy Time.)

Occasionally, productions with mixed or bad out-of-town reactions are transformed into big hits during the tryout period. Jerome Robbins (director-choreographer of West Side Story and Fiddler on the Roof) was called in to doctor A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Funny Girl. Both times he achieved the miracle. Any Wednesday had a disastrous tryout, with many different directors and a leading man who walked out shortly before the New York opening. It ran two years on Broadway.

But such accomplishments are rare. (In fact, a hit itself is rare these days. Last season, only 13 productions out of 74 returned their investment; and only two, Plaza Suite and Hair, will return substantial profits.) Usually, a hit is a hit from the outset. This season two Broadway musicals besides Dear World have tried out here; both were well received by Boston critics. As a result, one, Zorba, underwent minor cutting and restaging, but no major changes. The other, Promises, Promises, got three new songs, of which one ("I'll Never Fall in Love Again") was considered an important addition to an already solid show.

If so few shows' destinies are changed on the road, why do the producers bother with the expense and frustration at all? Harold Prince, Zorba's producer-director, finds the out-of-town critics helpful in suggesting changes that might make a good show better. (His Fiddler on the Roof and West Side Story were perhaps perfected on the road, but his flops, such as Flora, the Red Menace, benefited little from the out-of-town experience.)

While this may be the case for some producers, many others are moving away from the expensive tryout and doing all their fixing in two or three weeks of paid (often at reduced ticket prices) previews in New York. Very few straight plays tryout out of town anymore, although this does not prevent some (such as Murray Schisgal's Way of Life, which folded during previews last week) from closing before facing any critics.

As a substitute for the old road, three new types of "road" have been developing for straight plays in recent years. The most established of these is the London route. Such plays as Hadrian the Seventh, Man in the Glass Booth, and The Homecoming were London successes brought to New York by American producers. This is not foolproof, since London hits can still be New York flops (such as Joe Orton's Entertaining Mr. Sloane).

Another road is the regional theatre. Broadway producers have begun to take an interest in successful plays put on by theatre groups outside of New York. The Great White Hope (first performed at Arena Stage, Washington) and Red, White and Maddox (from Theater Atlanta) went this route.

Perhaps the most encouraging new "road" is the university theatre. This season's We Bombed in New Haven (first done at Yale) and Fire (from Brandeis), both flops in New York, marked the beginning of this path to the Main Stem.

For all its horrors, though, the traditional road, as it is loved and hated, will probably survive as long as Broadway theatre does. No matter how much he has lost early in the evening, the gambler will stay at the crap game until he has blown his last buck. And, like the gambler at the casino, the producer will grab at every last chance he can get to recoup his losses. Each day on the road is another last chance