Musical Broadway was long a boutique business. Independent producers conceived ideas, honed them out on the road, then ideally rode a wave of good reviews to profitability back in Manhattan.

Some shows are so full of heart and so overflowing with integrity — of talent, of skill and of purpose – that a critic is torn between singing its praises from the rooftops and wanting to protect something rare and fragile.

As delightful as well-done big-budget musicals can be, I’m certain that the future of the musical as an art form lies in the stripped-down style of small-scale production pioneered by John Doyle in his landmark revival of “Sweeney Todd.”

Boredom has never sounded sexier than it does in “The Band’s Visit,” the beautiful new musical by David Yazbek and Itamar Moses that opened on Thursday night at the Atlantic Theater Company.