Suffs
Overall Grade: B+ (but let’s be honest, it’s a B+ with an asterisk)
Created by Shaina Taub, Suffs is a brassy, bold, and sprawling musical chronicling the women’s suffrage movement in early 20th-century America. With music, lyrics, and book all by Taub, the show barrels through history leading up to the 1920 ratification of the 19th Amendment. It features real historical figures like Alice Paul, Lucy Burns, Ida B. Wells, and Carrie Chapman Catt—characters brought to vivid life by the original Off-Broadway cast, which included Taub herself as Alice Paul and a powerhouse ensemble of women portraying every role, including the men.
And when I say every role, I mean every role—including President Woodrow Wilson, whose portrayal stood out with razor-sharp physical comedy and pitch-perfect delivery that stole every scene. The all-female cast added not only layers of meaning but a fresh charge to the entire premise: this isn’t just history told from a woman’s point of view, it’s women reclaiming the entire narrative structure.
The music is charming—think The Producers meets Waitress with a pinch of Music Man thrown in. The ballad “Worth It” lands emotionally, giving us a glimpse of the toll activism takes on personal lives. But it’s the closer, “Keep Marching,” that cements itself as the show’s anthem: a rallying cry that had the audience literally on its feet. It rings in your ears for days after.
Now, plot-wise, the show takes on a lot—arguably too much. It spans nearly a decade of suffrage strategy, ideological rifts (particularly around race and class), and institutional opposition. From the 1913 Woman Suffrage Procession to the creation of the National Woman’s Party, and the inner conflicts between activists like Alice Paul, Carrie Catt, Ida B. Wells, and Mary Church Terrell, it’s a dense tapestry of characters and ideologies. While the writing tries to keep it punchy and contemporary, it can feel like an extended AP History class in verse. The runtime reflects this breadth—substantial and, at times, exhausting.
But here’s where context is everything: I saw Suffs on Election Day, 2024. The audience was electric. According to a Reddit post that went semi-viral that night, the energy was palpable—and I can confirm that as soon as the lights rose, the crowd gave a nearly 3-minute standing ovation. The significance of the moment elevated the material, connecting the past’s battles to the present’s stakes in real time.
So yes, objectively, the show is a C- on technical merits: overlong, overly ambitious, and emotionally uneven. But my experience? That night, in that room? Magic.
Hence, I’m bumping it—selfishly, emotionally, unapologetically—to a B+.