Review: Timely ‘Suffs’ at the Hollywood Pantages
- Anita W. Harris
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
Updated: 3 hours ago
Actress and composer Shaina Taub’s new musical “Suffs” couldn’t be better timed to perform at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre. It’s about the early 20th-century U.S. women’s suffrage movement, but Taub’s vibrant music and compelling lyrics ensure it’s not just a dry history lesson. Instead, this touring production’s powerhouse cast soars vocally, each emotionally invested in their character, making a politically charged statement for today.
The story centers on a conflict between two factions of the women’s suffrage movement in 1913 as they each press for change. The old guard National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) led by Carrie Chapman Catt (Marya Gandy) wants to work within the political system to achieve change, still requesting after 20 years to “Let Mother Vote,” while the younger National Women’s Party (NWP) led by Alice Paul (Maya Keleher) wants to “Find a Way” to disrupt and “Finish the Fight” by marching on Washington, D.C.
That younger-versus-older generational conflict adds to the political tension, as does Pres. Woodrow Wilson’s (Jenny Ashman) pigheadedness about supporting a Constitutional amendment compared to the more open attitude of his younger chief-of-staff Dudley Malone (Brandi Porter). Having these male roles played by women is an interesting choice, perhaps to make it less easy for the audience to simply boo and hiss at Wilson based on gender.
Black activists Ida B. Wells (Danyel Fulton) and Mary Church Terrell (Trisha Jeffrey) also play a pivotal part in the movement, along with Terrell’s daughter Phyllis (Victoria Pekel), adding poignancy when they are separated out from the effort to help ensure Southern political support, captured in Ida’s “Wait My Turn.” We know (and they seem to as well) that they wouldn’t be able to vote along with white women should the cause succeed.
And Inez Milholland (Monica Tulia Ramirez, amazingly understudied by Amand K. Lopez), another pivotal figure in the movement that Taub has rescued from the sands of time, adds more poignancy, embodying the movement’s idealistic hope — astride a horse Valkyrie-like at the front of the D.C. protest — and also its physical and psychological cost to these women, who at the time faced disparagement, humiliation and reduced potential for marriage and motherhood.
Many of the women grapple with that years-long cost, through songs like “If We Were Married” and “How Long?” They also endure physical harassment during protests and a stint in jail where they are violently force-fed through tubes to prevent their hunger strike getting the president’s attention and threatened with being committed to an asylum.
In these ways, the musical makes the women’s experiences visceral and moving as we experience through the songs and music their hopes, fears and above all their resilience in maintaining a way forward, led by young Alice. It also brings home how half the country couldn’t vote in before the amendment passed in 1920 and didn’t even have legal rights apart from their fathers or husbands until decades later, making palpable a feeling of powerlessness still felt by many today in different circumstances.
Solidly directed by Leigh Silverman, the musical unfolds in relatively fast-paced episodic scenes. Some are more dynamic, a highlight being “Fire & Tea” with a split stage — Catt and NAWSA meeting with Wilson on one side while NWP members burn his effigy outside White House gates on the other. Mayte Natalio’s choreography creates a powerful scene of primal female energy here that somehow evokes girls’ threat to the establishment in the Salem witch trials.
Where the first act steadily builds up, the second act notches up emotionally tense scenes — such as Pheobe Burn (Laura Stracko) singing “A Letter from Harry’s Mother” in a simple spotlight, convincing her senator son to vote “Aye” on the voting amendment and allowing it to pass— but also perhaps one too many reprises, especially as the movement winds down and the women spin off.
The end jumps forward decades to the 1970s with Alice now fighting for the Equal Rights Amendment (surprisingly, the 1965 Voting Rights Act that gave Blacks a voice at the polls is skipped over). But Alice realizes she is now the old guard who must make way for younger women’s righteous anger to torch through political power barriers.
The cast’s potent “Keep Marching” is a final call to action for all of us to keep affecting change, including now as women’s reproductive choices are being curtailed and people are threatened economically and, in some cases, physically. Seeing the entire ensemble in their early-1900s long dresses (costumes by Paul Tazewell) infusing their voices and bodies with a fierce but encouraging appeal is inspiring, and hopefully many of the young people who attended on opening night will take heed and take heart, along with the rest of us.
“Suffs” demands to be seen this way, not least because of the cast’s uniformly breathtaking performances in singing, expressiveness and even comic timing (especially Joyce Meimei Zheng as strident Polish activist Ruza Wenclawska, Livvy Marcus as accidental recruit Doris Stevens and her romantic influence on Malone, who ends up resigning from Wilson’s cabinet because of his growing beliefs). Excellent sound quality (Jason Crystal) ensures each word and lyric is heard clear as a bell, along with every note of the full orchestra.
“Suff”ice it to say, go see this outstanding musical while you can!
“Suffs” continues through Dec. 7 at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre, 6233 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, with shows Tuesdays through Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., and Sundays at 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. For tickets and information, call the box office at (866) 755-2929 or visit BroadwayinHollywood.com. Run time is 2 hours and 30 minutes, including intermission.