There is a lot of great, strong foundational material here, but I think it needs plenty of sharpening and revision before it moves to Broadway. It feels very “world premiere” and “rough draft” in its current incarnation, which I totally get, but if the path is being paved to Broadway, I hope they wait a few years to go it.
The cast is truly fabulous, with Colella, Soo, and McLean as the standouts. All three would be Tony contenders with their current performances if this was on Broadway.
To be honest, I wasn’t as impressed by the music as others seem to be. It is at its best when the songs are conveying a character’s emotions or hopes, fears, anxieties (for example, Jenn Colella’s “This Girl” was a highlight for me). But the overwhelming majority of the show is singing through exposition and, for me, not in a particularly engrossing way. I kept thinking about the song “Stay Alive” in Hamilton, which is one of the most history- and exposition-dense songs in the show, which serves a purpose in order to move us from Burr’s intense character development moment in “Wait For It” into the major plot point of “Ten Duel Commandments.” Suffs, to me, felt like 90% of the show was “Stay Alive.” Just a lot of shoving facts and moments into song after song, with not enough character development, musical brilliance, or emotional journey-taking that makes good theatre so compelling.
As many have said, it is far too long (my performance went nearly over three hours). I also personally despised
Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content
the ending, where they bring out the women of future generations to get the torch passed on from Alice Paul. It was the only time in the show where I felt like an agenda was being shoved forward. If you trust the material and the message, then you can end the show within the contained narrative and trust the audience to recognize and understand that the message transcends generations.
Right now, on the whole, this gets a B/B- from me, but I saw so many glimmers of A+ work being done. I hope Taub gets the time and space after the Public run is done to make the edits and revisions necessary to turn this into a truly brilliant work of theatre.
