NYT: Green is mixed-to-positive. Not a Critics' Pick
Review: In ‘Suffs,’ the Thrill of the Vote and How She Got It
Shaina Taub’s new Broadway musical about Alice Paul and the fight for women’s suffrage is smart and noble and a bit like a rally.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/18/theater/suffs-review-broadway-shaina-taub.html?searchResultPosition=1
"By the end, it feels like a rally, complete with mottos and banners — which, depending on what you want from a musical, isn’t necessarily a criticism. Certainly it explains why the show has attracted the support of notable feminists like Malala Yousafzai and Hillary Clinton, who rightly see it as an opportunity to buoy the politically discouraged. “Progress is possible, not guaranteed,” sings Paul, in a pithy, Obama-esque formulation.
I’m on board for that. And there are some fine performances: Colella as Catt, Nikki M. James as Wells, Ally Bonino as the resourceful Lucy Burns, and the ever-enjoyable Emily Skinner blowing in as a moneybags. Silverman’s staging, except for the anemic protest scenes, is exemplary.
But considered narrowly as drama, “Suffs” feels insufficient. Its scenes often come off as educational skits — an effect accentuated, at times, by their resemblance to handsome dioramas, with the women lined up in silhouette. (The sets are by Riccardo Hernández; the sharply profiled costumes by Paul Tazewell.) And Taub, especially in writing her own role, has prioritized intelligence over expressiveness, making Paul seem not just driven but robotic. She frequently says canned things like “Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed,” a paraphrase of the Declaration of Independence."