Women’s History Month may not be until March but there are lessons to be learned in Suffs, Shaina Taub’s imperfect but educational and ultimately stirring double-Tony-winning musical about the women’s suffrage movement of the early 20th century.

Suffs pits veteran suffragists Carrie Chapman Catt (Marya Grandy) and Molly Hay (Tami Dahbura) against young firebrand Alice Paul (Maya Keleher in the role composer-lyricist-book writer Taub originated on Broadway), the latter of whom has grown sick and tired of the older women’s gentle pleas to “Let Mother Vote” no matter how many more decades (it’s already been nearly seven) it will take to attain voting rights for all.

 And so Alice enlists as allies her college chum Lucy Burns (Gwynne Wood), socialite Inez Milholland (swing Amanda K. Lopez), Polish labor activist Ruza Wenclawska (Joyce Meimei Zheng), and fresh-outta-Nebraska Doris Stevens (Livvy Marcus) to “Find A Way” to amend the constitution and guarantee voting rights to women and men alike.

 It’s a mission that African-American journalist Ida B. Wells (Danyel Fulton), her fellow black activist Mary Church Terrell (Trisha Jeffrey), and Mary’s daughter Phyllis (Victoria Pekel) are fully on board with provided they are allowed to march side-by-side with their white counterparts despite the objections of segregationist Southern delegations, a feat more easily said than done.

 There’s equally little likelihood of garnering support from President Woodrow Wilson (Jenny Ashman), whose chief of staff Dudley Malone (Brandi Porter) soon finds himself smitten with Midwestern suffragist Doris, and vice versa.

What ensues is a battle of wills between those in power and those seeking equal rights, a fight that will see one of Alice’s fellow suffragists die (in large part from her dedication to the cause) and others, including herself, jailed simply for protesting outside the White House.

Timelier than ever, the story Suffs has to tell is a powerful one, and younger audience members may be shocked to learn that a right we take for granted was non-existent as recently as a little over a century ago.

Still, despite Suffs’s six Tony nominations (and pair of wins for Taub for Best Book and Best Original Score), it can’t help but be compared to the behemoth that is Hamilton, and for this reviewer at least, Suffs somewhat pales in comparison, its songs pleasant and even rousing but not thrillingly ground-breaking like Hamilton’s.

And though I totally get the reasoning behind having President Wilson and Dudley played by actors who don’t identify as male, the gender-swapping didn’t work for me the way it did in the recent 1776 revival that played the Ahmanson.

Suffs also attempts (unsuccessfully in my opinion) to have casting that is both color conscious (in the case of its three black characters) and colorblind (in the case of Ruza, Doris, and Dudley), which raises the question: If we are supposed to see Ida, Mary, and Phyllis’s color, are we supposed to not notice Dudley’s?

Finally, by focusing only on the women who fought and even died for the right to vote, only once do we get to see the effect of their efforts on the male voters who held these women’s fate in their hands, and that is in Suffs’ most moving song, a Southern mother’s letter to her Tennessee State legislator son in which she entreats him to change the course of history with a single vote.

On an entirely positive note, I can only rave about the performances being delivered on the Pantages stage, in particular the captivating and powerful star turn delivered by Keleher (a young Sutton Foster) and by the remarkable Lopez, who most performances is not even in the show, but soared in the major role of Inez on opening night.

Kudos too to director Leigh Silverman and associate director Lori Elizabeth Parquet for helming what is indeed a massive production, one whose superb cast is completed by Marissa Hecker, Kaitlyn Jackson, Jenna Lea Rosen, and Laura Stracko (Alva Belmont and Phoebe Burn).

Though not a dancy show, Suffs benefits too from the stylistic moves given the cast by choreographer Mayte Natalio and by the production design contributions of Christine Peters (sets), Lap Chi Chu (lighting), Jason Crystal (sound), and most especially the multitude of period-perfect Tony-nominated costumes designed by Paul Tazewell and Charles G. LaPointe’s myriad hair and wig designs.

Last but not least, music director Dani Lee Hutch conducts the show’s orchestra, a Broadway-caliber mix of touring and local musicians.

 Casting is by The Telsey Office. Abigail Aziz and Ariana Burks are principal covers. Annalese Fusaro, Merril Peiffer, and Aquila Sol join dance captain Lopez as swings.

Hawley Gould is associate choreographer. Stacy N. Taylor is production stage manager, Maya Bhatnagar is stage manager, Megan Ciszek is assistant stage manager, and Hilary Hamilton is company manager.

 Judging by the cheers that greeted Suffs on opening night, I’m probably in the minority in not absolutely loving the latest Broadway National Tour to pay a visit to the Pantages.

Even so, I must admit that by the time Alice and the entire cast joined soprano and alto voices in the triumphant grand finale that is “Keep Marching,” I couldn’t help but rise to my feet and join the rest of the audience in celebrating what these pioneering American women, against all odds, made happen.

Pantages Theatre, 6233 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles.
www.broadwayla.org

–Steven Stanley
November 19, 2025
Photos: Joan Marcus, 2025

Visit www.theatreinla.com/nowplayingrs.php for a review roundup of what’s now playing in theaters around Los Angeles.

Tags: Broadway In Hollywood, Los Angeles Theater Review, Pantages Theatre, Shaina Taub