When was the last time you saw an explosive new musical written—words, music, and all—and monopolized in performance by one chimerical talent? Someone who slays every dragon and, with a combination of bravura, élan, and just plain talent, overcomes every possible obstacle? Who distills dusty history into compelling storytelling, provides two-plus hours of always-distinctive music, and possesses the stamina to carry the whole damn thing on their capable shoulders while generously providing breakout roles for a half-dozen fellow performers?
I suppose you might say, yes, you have seen that before. And under similar circumstances, on the very same stage. So let’s get this out of the way up front. Shaina Taub’s Suffs, at this early point in its development, has the potential to follow the path of Lin-Manuel Miranda and his Hamilton. The earlier musical sought to place a ragtag band of Revolutionary heroes “in the room where it happens.” Taub’s revolutionary band of suffragists—who are even more invisible to history, although this new musical could/should/does tell their story—have their own mantra:
How will we do it when it’s never been done?
How will we find a way where there isn’t one?
Suffs are, yes, suffragists. It is general knowledge, or should be, that a group of American woman battled insurmountable odds to achieve the right to vote, resulting in passage of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920. How insurmountable, and just how desperate was the seven-year struggle? Taub now “tells their story,” and it’s quite a tale. Given the author’s meticulous work, one expects her facts are reasonably factual.
[Read David Finkle’s ★★★★☆ review here.]
Alice Paul (Taub) is a young idealist with “smoke coming out of her ears” who overtakes the old guard of well-mannered suffragists courteously asking politicians for the vote with a new, hand-picked band of comrades who don’t ask but demand. These include Inez Milholland (Phillipa Soo), a Greenwich Village “poster girl for radicalism”; Ruza Wenclawska (Hannah Cruz ), a Polish-born trade union socialist; Doris Stevens (Nadia Dandashi), a willing young acolyte; and Lucy Burns (Ally Bonino), a loyal retainer from Alice’s college days.
Just like Lin-Manuel Hamilton’s band of four, Shaina Paul’s quintet fight the battle, force the fight, and manipulate slimy self-serving politicians to seize the vote—which was their right, and which even today is under attack by slimy self-serving politicians.
Bravura turns are provided not only by the author (who also wrote the enjoyable score for, and appeared in, the Public’s 2018 Twelfth Night at the Delacorte). Amongst a cast of 19 highly capable players—without a weak link in sight—come a half-dozen exceptional performers with exceptional material, which they each make the most of. These include the aforementioned Soo, who so memorably created the role of Eliza in Hamilton and here gives an extravagantly stylish performance. Nikki M. James, a Tony winner for The Book of Mormon, gives a rock-strong, steely-eyed performance as crusading journalist Ida B. Wells, who steadfastly refuses to march in the back with the “special colored delegation.” Taub gives Wells—and James scaldingly delivers—what might be the theme for the show: “I will not wait one more minute for my turn.”
Aisha de Haas offers a comically commanding performance as Alva Belmont, the brashly crusty millionaire who helped fund the National Woman’s Party. The showiest part—more or less a companion to King George in that other musicalized history primer—goes to Grace McLean (of The Great Comet) as President Woodrow Wilson. Wilson’s true nature, nowadays, has been exposed and his reputation shattered, to the extent that the Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton has been stripped of his name. His participation here—McLean provides a marvelous lampoon, prancing about with legs that seem constructed of pipe cleaners—will likely enhance Wilson’s fame but not his legacy.
Also of special note are Cruz, Dandashi, and Bonino in the less flashy but vital roles of the central suffragist band; Jenn Colella (of Come from Away) as Mrs. Carrie Catt, an old-time suffragist who disagrees with Alice Paul’s methods; and Tsilala Brock, who gives a gently intelligent performance as Wilson advisor Dudley Malone, whom Taub presents as the only humane man in view. And yes, the story threads Taub weaves around Malone are accurate.
The production features exceptional work from every member of the creative staff, to the extent that we needn’t go into particulars. These include director Leigh Silverman (Violet); choreographer Raja Feather Kelly (A Strange Loop); designers Mimi Lien (scenery), Toni-Leslie James (costumes), Natasha Katz (lighting), Sun Hee Kil (sound), Daniel Kluger (sound effects), and Matthew Armentrout (hair and makeup); and producer Oskar Eustis, who goes out of his way to credit his uptown “partners” in the venture, Jill Furman and Rachel Sussman. The Public provides music director Andrea Grody and orchestrator Mike Brun with an 11-piece band—that’s larger than the group playing Hamilton on 46th Street—and they do a fine job with Taub’s eclectic and impressive score.
Suffs can still use some editing and sculpting—it’s impossible for the author to concentrate on refinements when she is onstage giving a herculean performance every night—but that will come in time. (As we learned from that other musical, the author-as-star might seem irreplaceable but many other performers will eventually thrive in the well-written role.) Even now, the present excitement is similar to what you might have experienced on the very same stage at the Public during the premiere productions of A Chorus Line, Elaine Stritch at Liberty, Fun Home, and Hamilton. That’s quite a class, and Taub is on the verge of becoming a member.
Suffs officially opened April 6, 2022, at the Public Theater and runs through May 29. Tickets and information: publictheater.org
