Review: SUFFS Get The Job Done

Review: Suffs. Book, music & lyrics by Shaina Taub. Directed by Leigh Silverman. Onstage at the 5th Avenue Theatre from September 13 – 27, 2025. Tickets at: https://www.5thavenue.org/shows/2025-26/suffs/

It’s always nice to learn new things when you go to the theater. It’s especially nice if there’s nice tunes to help you learn those things. Sometimes, “educational” theater can be a bit didactic but if done right, it can be fun and enlightening. One good example would be the musical “Ragtime” based on the novel by E.L. Doctorow set in the very fascinating world of early 20th century America and featuring real life people as characters. Now, nearly 30 years after “Ragtime” debuted, we have a new American musical set around the same time and also featuring real life people, and while SUFFS isn’t quite the classic that Ragtime became, it’s still a fascinating piece of musical theater about a very important topic and time in our country’s history.

Suffs is of course a shortened nickname for Suffragists and the Women’s Suffrage Movement (never the trivializing ‘suffragettes’) which spanned over a long 60+ period of history but really culminating into the years between 1914 and 1920 when the 19th Amendment to the Constitution gave women the right to vote. Suffs centers on a core group of real life women, led here by Alice Paul, a young woman determined to do whatever it takes to get women the right to vote. The musical also features two other strong female leaders: Carrie Chapman Catt, an older suffragist who favored a more cautious approach to acquiring the vote, and African-American journalist and activist Ida B. Wells who fought for black women’s voices to be heard in the fight for female equality.

We meet other several other famed real women including Lucy Burns, Inez Milholland, Ruza Wenclawska and Doris Stevens not to mention Woodrow Wilson, the President of the United States at this time, who proves to be a major road block in the progression towards suffrage. Wilson actually serves as the antagonist (or, villain, if you want to get basic about it…) in this piece and the neat thing about this show is that Wilson, and the small handful of other male characters in this show, are all played by female actors. Suffs is a musical theater piece that really showcases the talents and power of women.

Not least of which is the musical’s creator, Shaina Taub who the book as well as the music and lyrics for Suffs, winning two Tony Awards for her efforts, Best Book and Best Score, in 2024. And, she richly deserved both because the musical does have a great book and a powerful score filled with terrific songs. Along with Leigh Silverman’s direction, Suffs is that rarity among contemporary musical theater works, a very well crafted and unified piece of theater. It’s engaging, dramatic but with excellent comedic moments, and full of warmth and fiery passion. Yes, it does feel a bit “history book comes to life” at times and being a mostly non-fiction piece of work there really aren’t that many surprises in it but the intelligence and the passion of its story makes up for that. It’s a solid piece of theater that manages to be entertaining AND educational.

Oh…one small critique; the show does feel a bit long in the second act and it suffers from “Mulitple Ending Syndrome” where you have more than one scene that feels like the “final scene” but then you get ANOTHER scene that feels the same…and, then yet ANOTHER! The ending of Suffs does feel like it could be tightened.

The show is also aided by strong design elements, especially the very handsome costumes by Paul Tazewell. And, an exceptional cast headlined by Maya Keleher as Alice Terry, the cental role in the show with equally strong work from Marya Grandy as Carrie Chapman Catt and Danyel Fulton as Ida B Wells. Among the supporting cast, Monica Tulia Ramirez as Inez Milholland and Jenny Ashman as the duplicitous Wilson were also standouts.

Suffs is a piece of history theater that is highly recommended.