Look out Hamilton — a new American history musical has entered from stage left! From March 17 to 29, Suffs, a lyrical spin on the women’s suffrage movement, performed in Boston at the Emerson Colonial Theatre as a part of the musical’s national tour.
Created by performer Shaina Taub, Suffs debuted at The Public Theater in Manhattan, New York, in 2022 and later appeared on Broadway in 2024. The musical has done very well, winning two awards at the 2024 Tony Awards: one for Best Book of a Musical and another for Best Original Score. As the musical manages to enthrallingly tell the story of women’s suffrage with historical accuracy, it has been celebrated by critics, Boston Latin School students and many online.
The musical follows female activists as they fight for the right to vote during the period of reform before the 19th Amendment in 1920. Prominent feminist organizations are spotlighted in the musical, such as the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) and the National Women’s Party (NWP). The split between the NAWSA and the NWP, brought on by a difference in opinion on how to best gain the vote for women, is a major plot point of the musical. The NWP took a national approach with importance placed on quick results, while NAWSA was more moderate in their methodology.
The founder of the NWP and the main character of the musical, Alice Paul, played by Taub herself, employs the more confrontational tactics of the NWP to exert influence over the president at the time, Woodrow Wilson. Though she fails multiple times, she and the other suffragists are able to generate enough support to force Wilson to give women the right to vote at the end.
The women’s eventual success overall stands to make Suffs a musical about celebrating the triumphs of historical women while acknowledging their trials. BLS librarian Ms. Sofia Safran Turnerconnects this celebration back to action taken at BLS, saying, “I think that BLS does a good job of celebrating women’s history and powerful women. The librarians make sure that we put up women’s history displays each March.”
The characters consist of other important activists such as Carrie Chapman Catt, a prominent member of NAWSA; Ida B. Wells, a Black American suffragist who also helped create the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and Inez Milholland, a suffragist and lawyer.
Mentions of Suffs and the content that it is based on have found their way into the curriculum of the AP U.S. History (APUSH) course. The musical references Susan B. Anthony, a notable figure described in the APUSH curriculum. The NAWSA and NWP are both parts of the Progressive Era, which are also studied in APUSH for their part in securing the 19th Amendment.
Cosette Cummins (I), when discussing the parallels of Suffs to APUSH, says, “We covered the suffrage movement a good amount in APUSH, […] but I feel like [the musical] really went in depth about the storyline and everything leading up to women getting the right to vote.”
Despite generally positive critical reception to Suffs, opposition has grown against the musical.
AP United States Government and Politics student Brennan Keane (I) notes that “the show is far from perfect, and more could definitely be done to include the stories of Black [American] suffragists.” This sentiment is also shared by several online, who believe that the musical only perpetuates the undermining of the suffering of Black American women.
Performances are scheduled across the nation for Suffs in the upcoming months, with the current stop being Detriot until April 26. It will most certainly continue to offer a new perspective on a very important part of American history.