Suffs (musical)

2022 musical by Shaina Taub

Suffs

Music| Shaina Taub
Lyrics| Shaina Taub
Book| Shaina Taub
Basis| Women's suffrage in the United States
Premiere| 2022: The Public Theater
Productions| 2022 The Public Theater

Suffs is a stage musical with a book, music, and lyrics by Shaina Taub, based on suffragists and their American women's suffrage movement. It premiered Off-Broadway at The Public Theater in April 2022.

## Production history[edit]

The musical was initially going to open its world premiere production at The Public Theater on April 6, 2022, but the preview the night before as well as the opening night were cancelled due to a large number of positive COVID-19 cases among the cast.[1] It began previews on March 13 and was initially announced to run until April 24, but has been extended three times: first to May 1, then to May 15, and most recently to May 29.[2][3][4][5]

## Cast and characters[edit]

Character  | Public Theater (2022)[6]

|

Harry T. Burn | Jenna Bainbridge
Lucy Burns | Ally Bonino
Dudley Field Malone | Tsilala Brock
Carrie Catt | Jenn Colella
Ruza Wenclawska | Hannah Cruz
Doris Stevens | Nadia Dandashi
Alva Belmont / Phoebe Burn  | Aisha de Haas
Robin  | Amina Faye
Mary Church Terrell | Cassondra James
Ida B. Wells | Nikki M. James
Mollie Hay | Jaygee Macapugay
Woodrow Wilson | Grace McLean
Nina Otero-Warren | Susan Oliveras
Mrs. Wu  | Mia Pak
Phyllis Terrell | J. Riley Jr.
Inez Milholland | Phillipa Soo
Alice Paul | Shaina Taub
Mrs. Herndon  | Ada Westfall

## Reception[edit]

The Off-Broadway production of Suffs received mixed to positive reviews.[7] The production's cast, score, and direction received praise, but criticism was leveled at the musical's book, runtime, and overall structure. Juan A. Ramirez of Theatrely believed the musical's first act was too focused on narration and historical information, finding the second act vastly superior due to depicting vivid onstage conflict. He also felt the musical's criticism of the suffragists for excluding black women rang hollow due to it having no overall effect on the actual narrative.[8] Raven Snook of Time Out gave the musical four stars out of five but opined that, despite efforts by the production to highlight Ida B. Wells and Mary Church Terrell, their story still felt sidelined by the overall narrative.[9] In an overall positive review for Variety, Marilyn Stasio also found the second act superior but rushed, feeling the already nearly three-hour show could be longer to accommodate it.[10]

Suffs was compared prior to opening night and in multiple reviews with Hamilton, which like Suffs is a historical musical that debuted in the Newman Theater at the Public, featuring Phillipa Soo in a starring role, and attracted similarly sold-out audiences.[11] Maya Phillips, writing for The New York Times, noted that Suffs seemed to be trying to avoid potential criticisms similar to ones that had been leveled at Hamilton for its politics around women and slavery. Phillips opined this fear of leaving out information actually worked to the detriment of the story, voicing that the show felt "bloated with information".[12] Helen Shaw of Vulture also found the Hamilton comparison "unavoidable". Shaw praised the musical's portrayal of divisions within the suffragists movement, but she felt that Taub's music and Silverman's staging lacked the variation needed to carry the story. Nevertheless, Shaw saw potential in the musical's future development: "Just a few amendments to go, and, like a certain Constitution I could mention — it might be truly great."[13]

## See also[edit]

* Shoulder to Shoulder (1974 series)
* Iron Jawed Angels (2004 film)
* Suffragette (2015 film)

## References[edit]

1. ^ Rabinowitz, Chloe (April 6, 2022). "SUFFS Opening Night Performance Canceled Due to Covid-19; Performances Expected to Resume Next Week". BroadwayWorld. Retrieved April 7, 2022.
2. ^ Zamansky, Natan (2022-03-25). "Schedule of Upcoming Off-Broadway Shows". Playbill. Retrieved 2022-03-25.
3. ^ "Suffs: Public Theater". New York Theatre Guide. 2022. Retrieved 2022-03-25.
4. ^ Putnam, Leah (25 March 2022). "Shaina Taub's Suffs Sets 2nd Off-Broadway Extension at The Public". Playbill. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
5. ^ Putnam, Leah (8 April 2022). "Suffs to Play at The Public Through May in 3rd Extension". Playbill. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
6. ^ Russo, Gillian (2021-11-16). "'Suffs' announces Off-Broadway cast including Jenn Colella, Phillipa Soo, Nikki M. James". New York Theatre Guide. Retrieved 2022-03-17.
7. ^ "Suffs - Did They Like It?". Did They Like It. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
8. ^ Ramirez, Juan A. (6 April 2022). "SUFFS Suffers From Stasis — Review". Theatrely.
9. ^ Snook, Raven (6 April 2022). "Shaina Taub's epic new musical brings feminist history to inspirational life". Time Out. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
10. ^ Stasio, Marilyn (6 April 2022). "'Suffs' Review: Epic New Musical Portrays the Blood, Sweat and Tears Behind the Fight for Women's Suffrage". Variety.
11. ^ Tan, Gillian (4 April 2022). "With 'Suffs,' Public Theater Is Back in 'Hamilton'-Style Ticket Frenzy". Bloomberg. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
12. ^ Phillips, Maya (6 April 2022). "'Suffs' Review: Young, Scrappy and Hungry for the Right to Vote". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
13. ^ Shaw, Helen (6 April 2022). "Suffs Casts a Complicated Vote for a Complicated History". Vulture. Retrieved 9 April 2022.

## External links[edit]

* ​Suffs​ at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
* Official website

* v
* t
* e

Suffrage

Basic topics|

* Universal suffrage
* Women
* Men
* Black
* Youth
* Resident foreigners
* Expatriates in country of origin
* Voting age
* Demeny voting
* Suffragette
* Compulsory voting
* Disfranchisement
* Women's liberation movement

By country|

* Austria
* Australia
* 1902 Commonwealth Franchise Act
* aboriginal
* women
* Canada
* Chile
* Colombia
* Ecuador
* Hong Kong
* India
* Japan
* Kuwait
* Liechtenstein
* Mexico
* New Zealand
* Spain (Civil War, Francoist)
* Sri Lanka
* Sweden
* Switzerland
* United Kingdom
* women
* Cayman Islands
* Scotland
* Wales
* laws
* 1832
* 1918
* 1928
* United States
* women
* African Americans
* Native Americans
* felons
* foreigners
* District of Columbia
* Puerto Rico
* states
* Constitutional amendments: 15th, 19th, 23rd, 24th, 26th
* 1965 Voting Rights Act

Events|

* International Woman Suffrage Alliance conferences
* 1st
* 2nd
* 3rd
* 4th
* 5th
* 6th
* 7th
* 8th
* Hong Kong 1 July marches
* 2014 Hong Kong protests
* 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests

UK|

* WSPU march (1906)
* Mud March (1907)
* Women's Sunday (1908)
* Black Friday (1910)
* Battle of Downing Street (1910)
* Women's Coronation Procession (1911)
* Great Pilgrimage (1913)
* Open Christmas Letter (1914)

US|

* Seneca Falls Convention (1848)
* Declaration of Sentiments (1848)
* Rochester Convention (1848)
* Ohio Women's Convention (1850)
* National Women's Rights Convention (1850–1869)
* Trial of Susan B. Anthony (1872–1873)
* Suffrage Hikes (1912–1914)
* Woman Suffrage Procession (1913)
* Suffrage Torch
* Suffrage Special (1916)
* Silent Sentinels (1917–1919)
* Night of Terror
* Prison Special
* 1920 United States presidential election
* "Give Us the Ballot" (1957)
* Freedom Summer (1964)
* Selma to Montgomery marches (1965)

Women
(memorials)|

* List of suffragists and suffragettes
* Timeline of women's suffrage
* US
* in majority-Muslim countries
* Historiography of the Suffragettes
* Women's suffrage organizations and publications
* Women's rights activists
* Leser v. Garnett
* Belmont–Paul Monument
* Emmeline Pankhurst statue
* Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst Memorial
* Elizabeth Cady Stanton statue
* Suffragette Memorial
* Portrait Monument
* Women's Rights Pioneers Monument
* Forward statue
* Kate Sheppard National Memorial
* Millicent Fawcett statue
* Great Petition (2008 sculpture)
* Centenary of Women's Suffrage Commemorative Fountain
* Resilience
* Turning Point Suffragist Memorial
* Eagle House
* Pankhurst Centre
* Paulsdale
* Suffragette Handkerchief
* Holloway brooch
* Hunger Strike Medal
* Justice Bell
* Suffrage jewellery
* Suffragette penny
* Suffragette Oak
* Women's Rights National Historical Park
* Women's Suffrage National Monument
* International Women's Day
* Susan B. Anthony Day
* Women's Equality Day

Related|

* Age of candidacy
* National Voting Rights Museum (US)
* Umbrella Movement

Popular
culture|

* "The Women's Marseillaise"
* "The March of the Women" (1910 song)
* The Mother of Us All (1947 opera)
* "Sister Suffragette" (1964 song)
* Suffrage plays
* Women's suffrage in film
* Votes for Women (1912 film)
* Shoulder to Shoulder (1974 series)
* Not for Ourselves Alone (1999 documentary)
* Iron Jawed Angels (2004 film)
* Up the Women (2013 sitcom)
* Selma (2014 film)
* Suffragette (2015 film)
* Sylvia (2018 musical)
* Suffs (2022 musical)
* Susan B. Anthony dollar
* New Zealand ten-dollar note
* 2020 US ten-dollar bill

* v
* t
* e

Lucy Burns

Suffrage events
(co-organized)|

* 1913 Woman Suffrage Procession
* Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage
* The Suffragist
* Suffrage Special
* National Woman's Party (co-founder)
* Silent Sentinels
* Night of Terror
* Prison Special

Life|

* Women's Social and Political Union

Legacy|

* Iron Jawed Angels (2004 film)
* Suffs (2022 musical)
* Lucy Burns Institute

Related|

* Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
* Women's suffrage in the United States
* Women's suffrage

* v
* t
* e

Alice Paul

Initiated and
co-strategized|

* 1913 Woman Suffrage Procession
* Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage
* The Suffragist
* National Woman's Party
* Silent Sentinels
* Night of Terror
* Equal Rights Amendment
* Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

Main
associates|

* Alva Belmont
* Lucy Burns
* Crystal Eastman
* Inez Haynes Irwin
* Dora Lewis
* Inez Milholland
* Doris Stevens
* Mabel Vernon

Life|

* Paulsdale
* Women's Social and Political Union

Legacy|

* Belmont–Paul Women's Equality National Monument
* 2012 ten-dollar coin
* 2020 United States ten-dollar bill
* Jailed for Freedom (1920 book)
* Iron Jawed Angels (2004 film)
* Suffs (2022 musical)

Related|

* Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
* Women's suffrage in the United States
* Women's suffrage

* v
* t
* e

Woodrow Wilson

* 28th President of the United States (1913–1921)
* 34th Governor of New Jersey (1911–1913)
* 13th President of Princeton University (1902–1910)

Presidency|

* Transition
* 1913 inauguration
* suffrage parade
* 1917 inauguration
* The New Freedom
* Clayton Antitrust Act
* Farm Loan Act
* Federal Aid Road Act of 1916
* Federal Employees' Compensation Act
* Federal Reserve System
* Federal Reserve Act
* Federal Income Tax amendment
* Federal Trade Commission Act
* Federal Trade Commission
* Revenue Act of 1913
* Flag Day
* National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics
* Occupation of Haiti
* Bryan–Chamorro Treaty
* Philippine Autonomy Act
* World War I
* entry
* campaigns
* home front
* Committee on Public Information
* Espionage Act of 1917
* Selective Service Act of 1917
* Four Minute Men
* Sedition Act of 1918
* National War Labor Board
* The Inquiry
* American Commission to Negotiate Peace
* Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920)
* Treaty of Versailles
* Big Four
* Fourteen Points
* League of Nations
* charter
* Pueblo speech
* 1919 Nobel Peace Prize
* Wilsonian Armenia
* Silent Sentinels
* Women's Suffrage amendment
* Roosevelt desk
* Judicial appointments
* Supreme Court nominees
* Louis Brandeis Supreme Court nomination
* Cabinet
* State of the Union Address 1913
* 1914
* 1915
* 1916
* 1917
* 1918
* 1920

Life|

* Birthplace and Presidential Library
* papers and manuscripts
* Boyhood home in Georgia
* Boyhood home in South Carolina
* Princeton University president
* Summer White House (Harlakenden
* Shadow Lawn)
* Woodrow Wilson House
* Gravesite

Books|

* Congressional Government (1900)
* When a Man Comes to Himself (1901)
* The New Freedom (1913)

Elections|

* 1910 New Jersey gubernatorial election
* 1912 Democratic National Convention
* 1912 U.S. presidential election
* 1916 Democratic National Convention
* 1916 U.S. presidential election

Legacy
(memorials)|

* Bibliography
* Wilsonianism
* Woodrow Wilson Awards
* Woodrow Wilson Foundation
* Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
* The Wilson Quarterly
* Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs
* High schools
* Woodrow Wilson Junior College
* Celestial Sphere Woodrow Wilson Memorial
* Woodrow Wilson (Austin statue)
* Wilson Square (Warsaw)
* Woodrow Wilson Monument (Prague)
* Woodrow Wilson Bridge
* Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation
* U.S. Postage stamps
* U.S. Currency

Popular
culture|

* Wilson (1944 film)
* Profiles in Courage (1965 series)
* Backstairs at the White House (1979 miniseries)
* Woodrow Wilson and the Birth of the American Century (2002 documentary)
* Wilson (2013 book)
* Suffs (2022 musical)

Family|

* Ellen Axson Wilson (wife, 1885–1914, death)
* Edith Bolling Wilson (wife, 1915–1924)
* Margaret Wilson (daughter)
* Jessie Wilson Sayre (daughter)
* Eleanor Wilson McAdoo (daughter)
* Francis Sayre Sr. (son-in-law)
* Francis Sayre Jr. (grandson)
* Joseph Ruggles Wilson (father)
* James Wilson (grandfather)
* Helen Woodrow Bones (cousin, secretary)
* William McAdoo (son-in-law)

Related|

* Progressive Era
* Jefferson Literary and Debating Society
* Woodrow Wilson and race

* ← William Howard Taft
* Warren G. Harding →

* Category

* v
* t
* e

Silent Sentinels

Sentinels|

* Edith Ainge
* Nina E. Allender
* Annie Arniel
* Abby Scott Baker
* Mary Ritter Beard
* Alva Belmont
* Lucy Gwynne Branham
* Lucy Burns
* Sarah Tarleton Colvin
* Dorothy Day
* Julia Emory
* Matilda Hall Gardner
* Florence Bayard Hilles
* Alison Turnbull Hopkins
* Julia Hurlbut
* Dora Lewis
* Anne Henrietta Martin
* Nell Mercer
* Sophie Gooding Rose Meredith
* Vida Milholland
* Katherine Morey
* Mary A. Nolan
* Alice Paul
* Elizabeth Selden Rogers
* Caroline Spencer
* Doris Stevens
* Mary Church Terrell
* Phyllis Terrell
* Mabel Vernon
* Evelyn Wotherspoon Wainwright
* Amelia Himes Walker
* Ruza Wenclawska
* Sue Shelton White
* Margaret Fay Whittemore
* Maud Younger

Memorials|

* Turning Point Suffragist Memorial

Related|

* National Woman's Party
* The Suffragist
* Occoquan Workhouse
* Prison Special
* Women's suffrage in the United States
* Jailed for Freedom (1920 book)
* Iron Jawed Angels (2004 film)
* Suffs (2022 musical)

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