OFFICIAL: SUFFS to open at Music Box Theatre, April 18, 2024 — Page 2

I'm curious about the new design team as well, though I think the biggest improvement that could be made from when I saw it was just to not have it sung through. It seems like there has been a lot of work being done on it though, so I wonder how much of it will be rewritten.

I'd love to see Phillipa Soo and Grace McLean reprise their roles in particular!

This portion of the NYT piece talks about some of the changes in vague terms ––

The Off Broadway production of “Suffs” opened to mixed reviews; in The New York Times, the critic Maya Phillips wrote that “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.” But “Suffs” sold well, and Taub and the rest of the creative team have been reworking the show over the past year.

“We’ve done a lot of work on it — we’ve listened to the critics, and we listened to the audiences,” Furman said. In the months since the Public run, Furman and Sussman added, Taub has rewritten some songs, distilled the book, removed recitative and shortened the running time. “We feel really confident in what we’ve created,” Sussman said.

I regret not having seen this show downtown.

I hate to admit it, but following the NYT review - I didn't buy a ticket.

Thankfully, I'm going to get another chance.

I didn't see this downtown - so can't comment on the creative team from the Public vs. now. I have to say though, I'm a little surprised/disappointed to see so few women on the new creative team, especially for this show.

Kad said: "The majority of the creatives are still women, even if there are fewer than there were at the Public." am I counting wrong? I'm seeing 4 women (+1 associate) and 5 men?

DaveyG said: "Mr. Wormwood said: "It's interesting that there's so many new musicals this season but no one seems to have any idea what will be the biggest Tony contenders yet. Time will tell..."

I think The Notebook is the only sure-bet to be a contender."

I think there's just nothing, including Notebook, that got universal or near-universal raves in and/or had the level of buzz from prior incarnations that shows like Strange Loop and Kimberly Akimbo did.

It would not shock me to see all the top awards go to different shows. I could easily see a Suffs Best Musical, Harmony Best Book, Notebook Best Score, Cabaret Best Direction scenario.

The new artwork looks like Six to me.

Sammy232 said: "Kad said: "The majority of the creatives are still women, even if there are fewer than there were at the Public." am I counting wrong? I'm seeing 4 women (+1 associate) and 5 men?"

The important thing is that the people who are making the big decisions are entirely women: Author, two Lead Producers, Director, Choreographer, and Music Director, plus the Casting Director and General Manager.

Those women hired who they felt were best for the show, and it happened to be 4 male designers. I'm reminded of Michael R. Jackson pushing back to "criticism" about having a white director & producer for STRANGE LOOP: "There’s this hunger to infantilize me, or any Black artist, for making the choice to collaborate with who they want to collaborate with, and always wanting to use race or gender or some identity marker as an assumed obstacle, when it may not be at all. I wish that people would respect the choices that artists make and not want to undermine them by assuming that there’s some sort of racial discord that is always waiting to tear people apart or animate their artistic decisions. I’m a grown man, and I stand behind my artistic choices."

Replacing the Public design team feels like a largely symbolic gesture to signal greater change to investors, journos, and people like us. Those original designers could have been asked to radically rethink their designs for Broadway - and they're talented enough to do so - but the team clearly wanted the spin of "look at all these new people". Which is fine.

Updated On: 10/21/23 at 10:21 AM