'Suffs': The women's right-to-vote musical

‘SUFFS’: Jenn Colella & cast. Photo: Joan Marcus.

SUFFS
Book, music & lyrics by Shaina Taub
Directed by Leigh Silverman
Choreography by Mayte Natalio
Music Box Theatre
239 West 45th Street
(212-239-6200), www.suffsmusical.com

By David NouNou

Suffs by Shaina Taub is one of this season’s more ambitious musicals, if for no other reason the subject matter it tackles.

Starting out in 1913, the women’s movement for the right to vote in America is being spearheaded by the suffragists or “suffs,” as they call themselves. Headed by Alice Paul (Shaina Taub) and joined by activist Lucy Burns (Ally Bonino), lawyer and peace activist Inez Milholland (Hannah Cruz), Polish-American factory inspector Ruza Wenclawska (Kim Blanck) and women’s rights activist Doris Stevens (Nadia Dandashi), they are the new generation that is pushing to get enough states to pass the 19^th Amendment to the Constitution, giving women the right to vote. On the more temperate and established side, the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) is headed by Carrie Chapman Catt (Jenn Colella). Ms. Chapman Catt and NAWSA want to help pass the 19^th Amendment, but believe women must persuade men in softer, less aggressive ways, such as saying “allow Mother to vote.”

Alice Paul has more radical ideas about getting the 19^th Amendment passed, and she soon breaks away from NAWSA and creates the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage, later known as the National Woman’s Party in 1916. Alice Paul’s group uses more aggressive types of civil disobedience to encourage President Woodrow Wilson (Grace McLean) to support women’s right to vote.

As with any movement, it is ongoing, with endless problems. The women mentioned earlier are fighting for the white women’s right to vote. Matters are further complicated when the Black women, headed by Ida B. Wells (Nikki M. James), want women of color to be able to vote as well, and how well that would work down South. Also, where in the parades will they be placed? This is all under the term of President Woodrow Wilson. President Wilson wanted the whole movement to go away by throwing the marchers or agitators into prison and torturing them.

The subject matter is heady and historical, but not always satisfying. Instead of a flowing narrative, it seems more like episodic scenes attached one after another to make a complete musical. The book is repetitious at times. However, the score by Ms. Taub is remarkable. The score propels the story forward more clearly than the convoluted book and is very enjoyable.

Being a large ensemble but headed by Ms. Taub as Alice Paul, there are some exceptional performances, including Kim Blanck, Ally Bonino, Jenn Colella, Hannah Cruz, Nadia Dandashi, and Nikki M. James. Most have beautiful singing voices and wonderful stage presences.

Director Leigh Silverman certainly had her hands full with such serious subject matter and an extraordinarily large cast, and she often makes it work, but some of the less necessary scenes could have been trimmed.

There is a wonderful touch at the end when the new generation steps in and starts to take over while Alice Paul watches. It is awe-inspiring seeing what those women achieved, but one can’t help but watch in horror thinking how Roe vs. Wade has been overturned or considering what recently happened in Arizona with the strictest abortion bans, with a law from the 1800s now being enforced after a controversial ruling by the Arizona Supreme Court. What would the women in Suffs have thought and done today? Suffs shows that, no matter how far women have come, there is still a long way to go for women’s equality in modern-day America.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published April 22, 2024
Reviewed at April 21, 2024 press performance