New York theater critics have given mixed reviews to the Off-Broadway world premiere musical Suffs, about the women’s suffrage movement. The creative team includes Shaina Taub (book, music, lyrics), Leigh Silverman (direction), Raja Feather Kelly (choreography), Andrea Grody (music direction), Mimi Lien (sets), Tony-Leslie James (costumes), Natasha Katz (lights), Sun Hee Kil (sound), and Mike Brun (orchestrations).
The cast includes Ally Bonino (Lucy Burns), Jenn Colella (Carrie Chapman Catt), Hannah Cruz (Ruza Wenclawska), Nadia Dandashi (Doris Stevens), Nikki M. James (Ida B. Wells), Grace McLean (Woodrow Wilson), Phillipa Soo (Inez Milholland), and Shaina Taub (Alice Paul), with Jenna Bainbridge, Tsilala Brock, Aisha de Haas, Stephanie Everett, Amina Faye, Holly Gould, Cassondra James, Jaygee Macapugay, Susan Oliveras, Mia Pak, Liz Pearce, Monica Tulia Ramirez, J. Riley Jr., Angela Travino, Ada Westfall, and Aurelia Williams. The production continues at the Public Theater through May 15.
New York Times (Maya Phillips): The whole production feels so attuned to the gender politics and protests of today, so aware of possible critiques that it takes on its subject with an overabundance of caution. … And all these women and stories of their activism are uncomfortably stuffed into a show too scared to miss anything that it becomes bloated with information. … Suffs turns out to be all work and mostly no play, and when it comes to the music itself nothing really pops. … The music is most interesting when it sheds the exposition and allows the characters space to express their hopes, frustrations and desires.
Theater Mania (Hayley Levitt): Suffs is not the female Hamilton. … Suffs, with all its flaws — and there are many in this world-premiere production — does not need the support of a male property to stand on its own two feet. … The score’s most successful numbers are the climactic protest songs that come at the end of each act: The shouts of “we won’t wait another day” and “the young are at the gates,” linking the suffragists of yore to the activists of today. These moments finally get your heart racing, just as Taub (an activist in her own right) has long proved capable of doing through her insightful and cathartic music. If only Suffs weren’t as splintered as the movement.
Time Out (Raven Snook): A formidable quintuple threat, Taub wrote the show’s songs and script … and also holds center stage. … 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. … 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. 4 out of 5 stars.
Variety (Marilyn Stasio): Taub manages to dramatize the complex origins and conΩtentious development of the women’s rights movement by filtering it through the political coming-of-age narrative of Alice Paul, one of its seminal leaders. Making this a genuine tour de force, the composer-lyricist-writer also plays this central role. … The plethora of historical material clearly calls for an additional act: Lacking the space to breathe, the show chokes once the reformers are granted an audience with President Woodrow Wilson. … As for the ratification and formal verification — well, I’ll tell you all about it on the next march.