Suffs the Musical: Keep Marching

This review likely would’ve taken a different tone prior to the election but my opinion hasn’t changed.

So let’s do this.

Back in April, my mom, aunt and I went to go see Six the Musical for my birthday. (I also highly recommend that show). While we were eating lunch, I saw two women walking through the restaurant and they had sashes reading “Votes for Women” on them. I made a comment that they must be seeing Suffs and my mom asked what it was about. I told her it was about the fight for women’s right to vote and we all agreed we wanted to see it.

Fast forward six months and we made it a reality. We trekked into the city yet again, enjoyed a nice lunch and caught a Saturday matinee of this Tony-winning musical.

Even though this deals with historical events, I’m still going to warn for SPOILERS anyway.

The fight to give women the right to vote lasted for several decades but Suffs focused on the last decade of the fight. We are first introduced to Carrie Chapman Catt (Jenn Colella), who was Susan B. Anthony’s protege and believes the best way to get the vote is to appeal to men with a conservative approach, exemplified by her song “Let Mother Vote.” Shortly after this, Alice Paul (Hawley Gould at the performance I saw) storms into the scene with more aggressive tactics – namely organizing a march in Washington, D.C. Carrie tries to convince her to follow the conservative approach but Alice chafes under it, exemplified by her first song “Finish the Fight.”

Jenn Colella as Carrie Chapman Catt

Alice decides to move forward with her march and recruits her best friend Lucy Burns (Ally Bonino), socialite and lawyer Inez Milholland (Hannah Cruz), who then introduces them to socialist and union organizer Ruza Wenclawska (Kim Blanck). Finally Doris Stevens (Nadia Dandash) joins them as they make Alice’s plan a reality.

But reality can be harsh. Delegates from the Southern states refuse to participate in the march if it doesn’t segregate the Black delegates from the white ones. Alice capitulates, which leads to a tense confrontation with Ida B. Wells (Housso Semon at the performance I saw), who admonishes Alice and insists she is tired of waiting her turn. (“Wait My Turn”). She does join the march along with fellow Black suffragist Mary Church Terrell (Anastacia McClesky) and her daughter Phyllis (Laila Erica Drew).

Anastacia McClesky as Mary Church Terrell and Laila Erica Drew as Phyllis Terrell

After the success of their march, Alice and her group are invited to meet the new president, Woodrow Wilson (Grace McLean) and his chief of staff Dudley Malone (Tsilala Brock). Wilson is not in favor of Women’s Suffrage and so does his best to put them off until it’s time for a presidential election again. Malone, though, is sympathetic and becomes an ally after an encounter with Doris, during which they also make a romantic connection.

Alice and her group decide their best course of action is to campaign against Wilson’s re-election, which puts her at odds with Carrie. But it gains her a new ally in wealthy socialite Alva Belmont (Emily Skinner), who helps fund Alice’s National Women’s Party as they begin their campaign, Inez their spokeswoman as she travels across the country.

The cast of Suffs

The group is hit with a double whammy when Wilson is re-elected and Lucy comes in to announce that Inez has died while on out on the campaign. Alice is understandably distraught and she arranges a memorial for Inez where the suffragists come up with a new plan to get Wilson’s and America’s attention. (“How Long”) Alice tells her fellow Suffs to meet her at the White House gates the following morning as the musical heads into its intermission with a giant picture of the real Inez Milholland on horseback on a screen.

Inez Milholland

When the second act begins, the Suffs gather at the White House gates to keep a silent vigil as Wilson starts his second term (“The Young Are at the Gates”), imploring for their right to vote. Their numbers grow and a throng of women stand at the gates, never saying a word. (Though not named in the musical, they were called the Silent Sentinels and they really did do this).

Unfortunately, the United States enters the Great War (aka World War I) and makes protesting the president illegal. Alice and her Suffs defy this and even use Wilson’s own words against him. They are arrested and thrown in jail where Alice leads a hunger strike. This creates some tension between her and the others, especially Ruza, and leads to Dudley resigning from Wilson’s administration (“Respectfully Yours, Dudley Malone”).

Dudley then rescues Doris from prison and they find refuge with Alva. Wilson commissions a report to prove that the Suffs aren’t being tortured or mistreated while Doris and Alva read from the letters smuggled from prison proving otherwise. The letters also reveal that Alice has been separated from her friends and they don’t know what is happening to her.

Alice is on the verge of being declared insane as the hunger and stress takes its toll on her body. She imagines Inez there with her and Inez convinces her to not give up, to break her hunger strike and stay out of the madhouse (“Show Them Who You Are (Reprise)”). Alice addresses the doctor and convinces him not to commit her (“Insane”).

When Doris leaks the letters to the press, Wilson is forced to release the Suffs. Alice is reunited with Lucy and Ruza, who convinces her to double their efforts and finally take Wilson down. They burn him in effigy as Carrie meets with Wilson, convincing him her support if he supports women’s suffrage. He agrees and asks Congress to give them this “thing” they want.

(Doris notes that he actually said that).

Congress approves the measure but now the Suffs need 37 states to approve the new amendment. It comes down to Tennessee and both Carrie and Alice are there to watch the proceedings. They have a meeting in a hotel and Carrie realizes that they needed both their approaches to reach this point but is unable to articulate that directly to Alice. Only we the audience hear it in “She and I.”

The Tennessee legislature meets and holds a vote on passing the amendment. In the middle, legislator Harry Burn receives a telegram from his mother. Phoebe Burn pleads with her son to give women the right to vote in a powerful eleven o’clock number (“A Letter from Harry’s Mother”).

Burn votes “aye” and women’s suffrage passes.

Everyone celebrates and Mary Church Terrell calls Ida to give her the good news. But their joy is dampened when they realize that this really only means that white women have gotten the vote, that they will continue to suppress black voices. Both express how tired they are and it is Phyllis who repeats her mother’s words to inspire them to keep going, to keep fighting.

Alice, Lucy, Ruza and Doris gather to celebrate their victory. Alice, though, wants to keep pushing for more – she now wants the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). However, her companions are ready to hang up their banners and signs. Doris wants to write a book about their efforts, which she does. It was this book that inspired Shaina Taub to write the musical.

Ruza declares that she wants to act on Broadway before breaking the fourth wall to inform that audience that that is historically accurate, which it is. Playbill and the Internet Broadway Database have at least four known credits for Ruza Wenclawska.

That then leaves Lucy, who tells Alice via a beautiful song (“Lucy’s Song”) that while she won’t be marching anymore, she will always support Alice and be her friend. It ends with a sweet embrace between the two.

Ally Bonino as Lucy Burns (with a real photograph of Inez Milholland in the background)

Doris and Dudley get engaged and plan to marry while Carrie and her lover, Mollie Hay (Jaygee Macapugay), lament the fact that they cannot get married though they wish they could, showing the fight never really finishes.

This is also highlighted in a scene set a few decades later – the 1970s, judging by the outfit Robin (Drew) wears when she comes to visit an older Alice for a soundbite about passing the ERA. Alice and Robin talk and it is clear that Robin has a lot of plans, wanting to achieve a lot. Alice tries to convince her to focus on one thing at a time but Robin brushes off her advice, finding it to be too conservative and believing it won’t help her change the world. Alice has a moment where she wonders if she’s become the “old fogey” as Robin sings a reprise of “Finish the Fight.”

Alice then sings the final number, “Keep Marching,” before she’s joined by the whole cast singing too. Taub has said this is now the suffragists singing to us, the present generation, to encourage us to draw strength from them and to keep fighting for progress – to keep marching.

The cast of Suffs

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When I saw the show, it was before the election and we still had the hope that maybe we would finally shatter that glass ceiling. That we could elect a woman to be president of the United States. This felt like a celebration.

And it's still a celebration. 

But it's also a reminder that we can experience setbacks, that our dreams may seem impossible. We can't give up, though, and we need to keep fighting and to keep marching to get the progress we want to see in this world. 

It can give us hope. 

Moving on...

I realized something when I went to see this show. I don’t often get a chance to see original casts but when I do, someone is always out. I think the last time I saw the complete original cast was Spring Awakening.

So it was no surprise that I didn’t see everyone in the original cast of Suffs, though it was a little disappointing. However, I got to see most of the original cast, including Jenn Colella, so it was still a plus even before the show started. I do wish I had gotten to see Nikki M. James and Shaina Taub but the entire cast was so good, I was fine.

Especially with Hawley Gould as Alice Paul. By the time she reached the last note of “Finish the Fight,” I definitely didn’t care that I wasn’t seeing Taub. Gould brought a great energy to her Alice and handled both the comedic and emotional aspects of the character well. I wish she would record both “Is It Worth It?” and “Insane” so I could listen to her versions. I’ve found some video of her performing as Alice but it’s always “Show Them Who You Are,” which really highlights her energy and comedy but not that emotional depth.

She was also very good opposite Collela and they highlighted the differences between Alice and Carrie very well. Collela is just a delight and an amazing performer. If you ever get a chance to see her live, take it.

The entire cast is amazing. I hope to see them – especially Bonino, Cruz, Dandashi, Drew and Blanck – in more things in the future. Cruz as Inez was certainly a powerhouse performer while I feel in many ways that Bonino’s Lucy was the heart of the show. Drew stole the show no matter what scene she was in and I just loved watching Dandashi and Blanck. The scene where they accost Dudley in the bar is amazing because of them.

McLean is a highlight as Woodrow Wilson, though sometimes she slips more into comedic and doesn’t really always convey how dangerous he could be as well. But her vocals are impeccable.

I probably could go on and on about this cast so I think I’ll stop here. This is probably long enough.

Let’s move on to the music. Taub’s music really does carry the show and showcases a variety of song styles. She’s drawn inspiration from song styles of the time as well as other shows. If you haven’t heard the cast album, I recommend it. I think my favorite song changes every week but if I had to recommend a few songs to just give you a taste of the show, I would recommend “Great American Bitch,” “How Long,” and “Keep Marching.”

Clearly, I love this musical. I’m so sad it’s closing in a few weeks. I know it’s a busy time of the year but if you live close enough to New York City, then get a ticket and come see it before January 5th. The show is about to begin a national tour so if it swings by you, try to go see it then!

You won’t regret it.