By PATRICK HEALY

This season on Broadway some theatergoers and critics have been asking whether musicals have become increasingly cost-conscious with their visual artistry, and with mixed results.

The four major musical revivals so far this season - “Bye Bye Birdie,’’ “Finian’s Rainbow,’’ “Ragtime’’ and “A Little Night Music’’ - were dismissed by some critics for stage design that seemed thinly conceived or even flimsy.

Even the most commercially successful recent productions of musicals - “Billy Elliot: The Musical,’’ “Hair’’ and “West Side Story’’ - lean to the stripped-down .

The drift toward smaller-isbetter Broadway musicals will continue to be scrutinized through the spring, as producers and directors weigh whether scaled-down productions like “Hair,’’ which recouped its $5.8 million capitalization in five months, are a smarter way to go in this economy than extravaganzas like “Spider-man: Turn Off the Dark,’’ which delayed its February previews because of difficulty raising money for its estimated budget of $50 million.

Robert Longbottom, the director and choreographer of the Roundabout Theater Company’s revival of “Bye Bye Birdie,’’ which closed in January, called the show’s scenery and costumes first-rate, but acknowledged that working within confines had been challenging.

“Sometimes - if you find you don’t have the funds to have all the bricks and mortar to do every scene in every way you want ? you have to be creative,’’ he said.

For some Broadway veterans , however, the recent spate of austere production values often feels like a disappointing concession to the increasing expense of producing on Broadway .

“The smaller scale of musicals is all about money, I believe,’’ said Hal Prince, who has directed large-scale works like “A Little Night Music” and “Follies.”

“When I directed the original ‘Follies’ and ‘Little Night Music,’ I didn’t really worry about those musicals recouping, and no one put pressure on me to worry about it,’’ Mr. Prince continued. “That’s not as true today. And I’m not sure the environment exists today to mount huge works with the calmness and confidence that we did decades ago.’’

One of the most commercially successful new musicals, “Billy Elliot,’’ which recouped its $18 million capitalization in 14 months, takes place largely in a community center dance hall .

“I was a neophyte as a producer, and basically didn’t put any budget restrictions on the creative vision,’’ said Eric Fellner, the lead producer of “Billy Elliot,’’ which won the Tony in June for best musical.