SUFFS is coming to Broadway - Page 9

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 2/27/24 at 1:46pm

Shaina Taub is listed as lyricist on the website for the upcoming UK production of Prada.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 2/27/24 at 2:23pm

I'm aware. That's why I specified actively involved (because sometimes people retain credit even if someone has taken over their role in an uncredited capacity).

Or, perhaps the score will be "frozen" before the time it goes out of town (eeeeeekk) or she'll just be doing remote work from NY based on archival video.

Updated On: 2/27/24 at 02:23 PM

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 3/12/24 at 3:20pm

This Playbill piece offers a bit of insight about the changes since the Public production:

Suffs had a highly publicized run Off-Broadway in 2022 at the Public Theater. Though the run was entirely sold out and extended three times, the critical reception was mixed. Taub took those notes to heart. In the almost two years since the Public run, Taub and Silverman have had three more workshops of the material. Taub has cut songs from the Off-Broadway run, and written new songs. She’s still re-writing and refining, even in rehearsal. The revisions have been led by two key creative principles: “Put the history books away” and “sit at the piano more than…the computer.” In short, spend more time on character and heart.

“I could get lost in [research],” admits Taub. “And having this amazing chance over this last year to work towards the Broadway production, I was like, what if I just leave that over there, and finally, fully, really allow myself to let it come from me.” 

That includes letting the characters breathe instead of always being vessels of information for the audience. For instance, Taub has written a new character song for her leads, which has been released to the public, called “Great American Bitch.” Each woman in the core group of suffragists are allowed to make jokes, let loose, and showcase their distinct personalities. Suffs has even released merch that has that title cheekily emblazoned on it.

 

Here are 4 new songs, including "Great American Bitch": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhuMXJhGS4o

[chrishuyen]

Posted: 3/12/24 at 4:08pm

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "This Playbill piece offers a bit of insight about the changes since the Public production:

Suffshad a highly publicized run Off-Broadway in 2022 at the Public Theater. Though the run was entirely sold out and extended three times, the critical reception was mixed. Taub took those notes to heart. In the almost two years since the Public run, Taub and Silverman have had three more workshops of the material. Taub has cut songs from the Off-Broadway run, and written new songs. She’s still re-writing and refining, even in rehearsal. The revisions have been led by two key creative principles: “Put the history books away” and “sit at the piano more than…the computer.” In short, spend more time on character and heart.

“I could get lost in [research],” admits Taub. “And having this amazing chance over this last year to work towards the Broadway production, I was like, what if I just leave that over there, and finally, fully, really allow myself to let it come from me.”

That includes letting the characters breathe instead of always being vessels of information for the audience. For instance, Taub has written a new character song for her leads, which has been released to the public, called “Great American Bitch.” Each woman in the core group of suffragists are allowed to make jokes, let loose, and showcase their distinct personalities.Suffshas even released merch that has that title cheekily emblazoned on it.

Here are 4 new songs, including "Great American Bitch":https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhuMXJhGS4o"

I definitely think this is the right approach to take, having seen the off-Broadway version, and I'm pretty excited at the new songs which feel like they give us more of a reason to root for the individual characters rather than just the mission of what they're doing.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 3/12/24 at 4:18pm

Yes in theory these are the right types of changes to be making. It's refreshing to see a musical get significant work after its pre-Broadway run. We'll see how it shakes out, and if it makes any major difference with the reviews and box office.

One of the problems with the score off-Broadway is that the songs didn't really build to big climaxes. They were all somewhat muted. The March has the potential to get there in performance. The Colella song here feels like it wants to be bigger but doesn't have a big bang to it. The Bitch song, while funny, stays pretty lowkey and conversational. But we might never get big audience-pleasing moments and buttons from Shaina.

Updated On: 3/12/24 at 04:18 PM

[Alex Kulak2]

Posted: 3/12/24 at 5:28pm

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "This Playbill piece offers a bit of insight about the changes since the Public production:

Suffshad a highly publicized run Off-Broadway in 2022 at the Public Theater. Though the run was entirely sold out and extended three times, the critical reception was mixed. Taub took those notes to heart. In the almost two years since the Public run, Taub and Silverman have had three more workshops of the material. Taub has cut songs from the Off-Broadway run, and written new songs. She’s still re-writing and refining, even in rehearsal. The revisions have been led by two key creative principles: “Put the history books away” and “sit at the piano more than…the computer.” In short, spend more time on character and heart.

“I could get lost in [research],” admits Taub. “And having this amazing chance over this last year to work towards the Broadway production, I was like, what if I just leave that over there, and finally, fully, really allow myself to let it come from me.”

That includes letting the characters breathe instead of always being vessels of information for the audience. For instance, Taub has written a new character song for her leads, which has been released to the public, called “Great American Bitch.” Each woman in the core group of suffragists are allowed to make jokes, let loose, and showcase their distinct personalities.Suffshas even released merch that has that title cheekily emblazoned on it.



Here are 4 new songs, including "Great American Bitch":https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhuMXJhGS4o"

 

The first song is really good. Kind of feels like a cross between "My Shot" from Hamilton and "Once And For All" from Newsies.

[inception]

Posted: 3/14/24 at 2:58am

Ooof...I fell asleep half way through Jen Colella's number.  This is gonna be a slog.

 

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 3/14/24 at 6:39am

Just watched the Playbill video with the four songs... I hate to say this, but none of those songs did anything for me. I very well may sit this one out.

[BETTY22]

Posted: 3/14/24 at 9:35am

I love they are taking on an important topic, and wish them the best. 

I'm hoping Hillary Clinton's endorsement will make a difference - we have had so many celebrity 'producer' recently, I'm not sure it works. 

[Melissa25]

Posted: 3/14/24 at 11:09am

I’m confused…This Girl is not new. Is it that it is just rearranged, longer and slower?

I wish she would have stayed away from the term B*tch.

[TaffyDavenport]

Posted: 3/14/24 at 11:11am

Only 2 songs in that video are new; the other 2 are not.

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 3/14/24 at 12:11pm

I'm hoping Hillary Clinton's endorsement will make a difference - we have had so many celebrity 'producer' recently, I'm not sure it works."

I love Hillary but her endorsement means absolutely nothing. Like all the shows this Spring, Suffs need to stand out with their marketing, their promos, their appearances, etc. I don't see a lot of that happening and their discount for previews is paltry.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 3/14/24 at 12:38pm

Clinton's involvement is tricky. I don't know if it will be hurtful or indifferent, but it probably won't be as helpful as Jill Furman & co hope it will be.

When advertising a Broadway show or tour, you really don't want it to be seen as a partisan work, even if it's written as such. Let people attend and decide for themselves. Republicans buy tickets to Broadway too (whether they are the target audience or not, they're an audience). Are a sizeable number of people going to buy tickets to SUFFS because of HRC's involvement who wouldn't otherwise be attending? Or will some people be turned off if they think it's a preachy work? The subject matter might have the market for Liberal White Women Of The Tristate Area cornered already.

The celebrity "co-producer" generally adds nothing (it gets the show a little bit of press at best), but HRC is doing more than the average person: she's doing PSAs and showing up to the meet & greet and is included in the advertising materials. They are promoting her involvement much more than Netflix promotes its partnerships with Higher Ground (the Obama production company). She might even be the rare "co-producer" getting paid by the production for X amount of involvement.

We shall see...

[Sammy232]

Posted: 3/14/24 at 1:12pm

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "Clinton's involvement is tricky.I don't know if it will be hurtful or indifferent, but it probably won't be as helpful as Jill Furman & cohope it will be.

When advertising a Broadway show or tour, you reallydon'twant it to be seen as a partisan work, even if it's written as such. Let people attend and decide for themselves. Republicans buy ticketsto Broadway too (whether they are the target audience or not,they're an audience). Are a sizeable number of people going to buy tickets to SUFFS because of HRC's involvementwho wouldn't otherwise be attending?Or will some people be turned off if they think it's a preachy work? Thesubject matter might have the market for Liberal White Women Of The Tristate Area cornered already.

The celebrity "co-producer" generally adds nothing (it gets the showa little bit of press at best), but HRC is doing more than the average person: she's doing PSAs and showing up to the meet & greet and is included in the advertising materials.They are promoting her involvement much more than Netflix promotes its partnerships withHigher Ground (the Obama production company). She might even be the rare "co-producer" gettingpaidby the production for X amount of involvement.

We shall see..."

I saw an ad (prob on instagram or facebook, can't remember) where the voiceover says produced by Hilary Clinton and I thought that was so strange. Assuming that she's supporting by showing up, whether paid or unpaid, is not the same as producing the show for real? 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 3/14/24 at 1:25pm

Sammy232 said: "I saw an ad (prob on instagram or facebook, can't remember) wherethe voiceover says produced by Hilary Clinton and I thought that was so strange. Assuming that she's supporting by showing up, whether paid or unpaid, is not the same as producing the show for real?"

Yes, she is in an ad for the show.

Every show has a Lead Producer (sometimes a few). In this case, the lead producers are Jill Furman & Rachel Sussman. They're the ones actually making the decisions and working with the author/creative team and raising the money and doing everything that you associate with "producing". Then, a show has a whooooole bunch of other people who raise or invest money in exchange for a co-producer credit, but they have little to no day to day involvement with the show. Clinton is not a Lead Producer of SUFFS.

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 3/14/24 at 1:27pm

Right, so that eliminates 50% of American tourists whose husbands would never allow them to purchase tickets to this. CuZ hEr EmAiLs!

The subject matter might have the market for Liberal White Women Of The Tristate Area cornered already.

Good point. My Mother and all her white/liberal/suburban friends want to see this. My lovely relatives who live in The Villages in DeSantis-Burg openly mocked this show for being "woke, liberal garbage". We'll see how this pans out but I'm really excited to see this, especially in an election year. 

[Sammy232]

Posted: 3/14/24 at 3:19pm

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "Sammy232 said: "I saw an ad (prob on instagram or facebook, can't remember) wherethe voiceover says produced by Hilary Clinton and I thought that was so strange. Assuming that she's supporting by showing up, whether paid or unpaid, is not the same as producing the show for real?"

Yes, she is in an ad for the show.

Every show has a Lead Producer (sometimes a few). In this case, the lead producers areJill Furman & Rachel Sussman. They're the ones actually making the decisions and working with the author/creative team and raising the money and doing everything that you associate with "producing". Then, a show has a whooooole bunch of other people who raise or invest money in exchange for a co-producer credit, but they have little to no day to day involvement with the show. Clinton is not a Lead Producer of SUFFS."

Correct - that's why I found it strange that the last line of the voiceover was, "produced by Hilary Clinton" as if she is the sole person steering this ship.

[Michelle Birnbaum]

Posted: 3/15/24 at 7:41am

Is this the best musical frontrunner after The Notebook reviews?

[dramamama611]

Posted: 3/15/24 at 8:36am

Lempicka?  But until everything opens, who knows. Maybe The Outsiders will be stupendous. Of what's opened, the only great new show has been Wine & Roses, imo. 

[BETTY22]

Posted: 3/15/24 at 9:15am

After a very disappointing Notebook, I am praying this show will be great.

We need a hit that is both commercial and great.......

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 3/15/24 at 9:47am

Michelle Birnbaum said: "Is this the best musical frontrunner after The Notebook reviews?"

I think Hells Kitchen is going to take it.

[dexter3]

Posted: 3/15/24 at 10:11am

So, every season is comprised of shows competing for Tony awards, and by the virtue of any awards show, there is only one winner in each category...and thus it doesn't really mean any particular show/actor/score is the itself an incredible entry, it just generally means that the winner reflects the overall attitude of the voters...blah blah blah...I say this all because it feels like we're going to have a fair amount of new musical flops this season, and thus a show that perhaps isn't the GREATEST show in regards to quality could actually be perceived as better than is actually is, purely because of the number of shows that will be perceived as bad within the same season. I'm going to guess that the "winner" of the season is going to be Suffs or Lempicka, but again, we shall see. TLDR: there may be no exemplary new show this season, but likely one will be perceived as "great", even if it's not a self-evidently great show.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 3/15/24 at 10:36am

QueenAlice said: "Michelle Birnbaum said: "Is this the best musical frontrunner after The Notebook reviews?"

I think Hells Kitchen is going to take it."

I like what I've heard from OUTSIDERS so far. Interesting to see how that comes together.

[Broadway Flash]

Posted: 3/15/24 at 2:28pm

You can tell this is selling well because the handful of dates it was on TDF, it sold instantly.  Same with Patriots.  I haven’t seen Hells Kitchen up there so far.  

[TaffyDavenport]

Posted: 3/15/24 at 2:30pm

Broadway Flash said: "You can tell this is selling well because the handful of dates it was on TDF, it sold instantly. Same with Patriots. I haven’t seen Hells Kitchen up there so far."

Neither show is selling well, which is why they were on TDF in the first place.