We round up the reviews for the latest musical now playing on Broadway.
NY Times: “Shaina Taub’s new Broadway musical about Alice Paul and the fight for women’s suffrage is smart and noble and a bit like a rally.”
Variety: “As writer, Taub smartly avoids the facile men-against-women tropes and digs deeper into internal challenges within the movement and within the women as individuals. Thanks to the specificity of the writing, music and lyrics and a remarkable ensemble of women and nonbinary actors, the multitude of characters in this densely packed historic narrative are, if not deeply, then at least reasonably well-defined and relatable with their personal doubts, fears and triumphs.”
New York Post: “Until a prison stay and risky hunger strike enlivens the second half, though, a lot of “Suffs” is made up of historical meetings and conferences. Informative and sometimes touching meetings and conferences, yes, but hardly ever compelling ones. The show slumps during a few dull, repetitive stretches.”
Time Out: **** “Suffs is remarkably easy to follow as it presents its sheroes in all their imperfect glory, exploring the ideological, generational and racial divides that persist to this day in feminist politics. Although the show is nearly three hours long, not every pioneering woman gets her due. The production works hard to spotlight actors of color, but the Black activists Ida B. Wells and Mary Church Terrell—beautifully embodied by Nikki M. James and Cassondra James, respectively—feel sidelined, giving Wells’ stirring solo “Wait My Turn” an unfortunate double meaning. Yet there’s much to admire and enjoy in Suffs, which may well have a brilliant future ahead of it. Like its protagonists, it’s a progressive work in progress.”
Talkin’ Broadway.com: “Unfortunately, there is too much plotting to sustain the show, which has enough to shoulder to make the point that the battle for equality in all arenas is never a fait accompli. Under Leigh Silverman’s direction, Suffs, which was originally produced at the Public Theater, never fully escapes its history lesson tone, despite the rich performances by a solid ensemble cast that also includes a terrific Emily Skinner, doubling as a wealthy supporter and, later, as the woman behind that all-important Tennessee vote; Kim Blanck as the outspoken activist Ruza Wenclawska; and Hannah Cruz as Inez Milholland, who leads the Washington march on horseback. Taub and her collaborators are to be commended for attempting to give an honest portrayal of the actual characters and events leading up to the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, but even the most serious of musicals could use some poetic license to connect the worlds of history and theatre to fully engage a wide Broadway audience.”
The Wrap.com: “Leigh Silverman, the show’s director, emerges as a master general marshaling all the disparate and competing forces of this multifaceted story. Building on the strong material given her, Silverman manages with her talented actors to present at least half a dozen fully developed characters on stage. How many other musicals have ever achieved such a feat?”
New York Stage Review: “While it could so easily turn wonky, Taub never loses sight of the emotional toll on these women, devoting their lives to the never-ending struggle. And so, for every song of defiance (“Finish the Fight” and “Show Them Who You Are”) there’s another questioning why they do it.”
The Stage: ***** “Shaina Taub’s exciting new musical about the women’s suffrage movement is remarkable.”
New York Theater.me: “vivant silhouettes of the strong-willed ladies in the old-fashioned floor-length dresses and feathery wide-brimmed hats of their era. Although Riccardo Hernández’s set design gives the performers plenty of space, the signposts of Washington D.C. power – Corinthian columns, massive dark wood doors – also at times loom over these women in an apt metaphor for their diminutive political status.”
To find out more about the show visit: https://suffsmusical.com/