Clyde Haberman asks: “Have you noticed the large number of plays in recent years, on and
off Broadway, whose titles consist of only one word?” And answers:
To list a few, we now have “Rent,” “Bug,” “Sin,” “Doubt,” “Stomp,” “Svejk,”
“Whoopi,” “Hairspray,” “Chicago,” “Brooklyn,” “Dracula,” not to mention words like “Reckless,”
“Wicked,” “Trying” and “Cookin’.” Say this for “Democracy.” It is at least a long word, like
“Guantánamo” and “Cinderella” …
But something called “Our Cellphone Symphony” at the Brooks Atkinson Theater — where
Michael Frayn’s “Democracy” had its Broadway premiere last night — is the really fascinating
stuff. Go read the column.
