If you’ve had your fill of jukebox musicals with a recycled song list and are thirsting for an original musical with historical import that resonates with current sociopolitical issues, get thee to Suffs. The Tony Award winning musical kicked off its national tour in September and arrived at the majestic Pantages Theatre in Hollywood on November 19th where it plays through December 7th before moving on to entertain, educate and inspire audiences and activists alike.
Suffs dramatizes the decades-long struggle for women’s right to vote (the suffragist movement began in the 1840s) which was ratified in 1920 with the passage of the 19th Amendment. The story is told through the lens of two women from different generations — Carrie Chapman Catt and Alice Paul — who shared the same goal but differed greatly on how to achieve it. Marya Grandy brings an aptly maternal quality to the role of Carrie, reinforced by her rather chipper introductory song, “Let Mother Vote.” Carrie is part of the old guard who believes the most effective way to champion their cause is through a congenial approach, negotiating with the powers that be in a “ladylike” fashion.
When Alice Paul emerges on the scene circa 1913 in her mid-20s, she is young enough to be Carrie’s daughter. Played to perfection by Maya Keleher, Alice provides a refreshing contrast as a young upstart who’s ready to shake things up, fearing that Carrie Catt’s “slow and steady” approach is leading inexorably to a dead-end. Not content to follow Carrie’s lead, Alice plows ahead and recruits her college friend Lucy Burns to organize a full-scale march on Washington demanding voting rights. Alice and Lucy recruit a charismatic socialite and women’s rights activist named Inez Milholland with the clout to attract other like-minded women to their cause. Incidentally, the actress who performed the role of Inez was actually an understudy named Amanda K. Lopez and gave an outstanding performance.
Before long, the movement starts to take shape with the addition of a Polish American labor organizer named Ruza Wenclawska, a firebrand with a take-no-prisoners approach. Doris Stevens joins the team as the movement’s “secretary” to begin chronicling the group’s progress. It’s worth noting that Stevens went on to write Jailed for Freedom, the book on which this musical is based, chronicling the women’s suffrage movement whose acts of civil disobedience ultimately led to the arrest and imprisonment of over a thousand women for whatever minor infractions could be charged.
Taub fleshes out the internal conflict within the movement by drawing on the schism between Alice Paul and her African American counterparts who had been organizing for racial justice. The organizers of the march wanted the support of Black women, but only if they agreed to march separately toward the back of the procession.
This did not sit well with outspoken activists such as Ida B. Wells, who figures prominently in Suffs and who founded the NAACP in 1909. Danyel Fulton inhabits the role of this Civil Rights luminary with the requisite mix of gravitas and wisdom. Fulton delivers a powerful rebuke against this flagrant double standard in a barn-burner called “Wait My Turn.” Trisha Jeffrey plays Mary Church Terrell, a key ally of Ida B. Wells, who hails from academia and urges a more conciliatory approach.
The other interesting aspect of Suffs is how all the male characters are played by women. Jenny Ashman took on the role of President Woodrow Wilson and Brandi Porter took on the role of Dudley Malone, a close friend of Wilson who would become an ally in the suffragist movement and ultimately marry Doris Stevens. Casting women in these male roles helped underscore the solidarity among women required to meet the moment.
Set against the historical backdrop of World War 1 and Woodrow Wilson’s political gamesmanship, the story reaches a tipping point when Inez Milholland succumbs to illness and dies in the midst of her continued efforts to push for voting rights across America. Her death galvanizes the movement, leading Alice and others to step up their resistance, which then leads to their arrest. While in jail, the women begin a hunger strike to bring increased public pressure on the Wilson administration. Alice Paul herself is nearly committed to an insane asylum in order to quash her resistance. Finally, it’s the combined efforts of these courageous women who refused to buckle despite the toll it took on their personal lives.
Prior to Suffs, the suffragist movement remained a lesser-known chapter of American history that had gotten short shrift. Combining art and entertainment with education is no easy feat. But Shaina Taub has done a remarkable job doing just that. Taub was initially approached by one of the show’s producers, Rachel Sussman, in 2014 who gave her the book Jailed for Freedom (originally published in 1920). Ten years later, Suffs premiered on Broadway and Taub made history of her own as the first woman to win the Tony Award for Best Original Score and Best Book of a Musical. An accomplished actress in her own right, Taub starred in the original Broadway production, playing Alice Paul.
Suffs was clearly a passion project for Taub, a decade in the making. In an interview with CBS, Taub remarked that Suffs was particularly meaningful to her as a way of manifesting the spirit of “tikkun olam” — part of Taub’s Jewish heritage which translates as “repair the world” and thereby using her talents to create a positive impact relating to social justice.
Suffs ends on a hopeful note as the women celebrate their victory, but also as a call to action with the song “Keep Marching,” underscoring the show’s theme that history is what we make of it.
Suffs: Nov. 19—Dec. 7. Hollywood Pantages Theatre, 6233 Hollywood Blvd., LA. Running time: two hours and 30 mins. Tickets.