Tony Award-winning musical “Suffs” opened at the Providence Performing Arts Center on Tuesday, moving audience members with a passionate performance by an all-female and nonbinary cast. Gracing the stage until Jan. 25, the musical reimagines women’s suffrage in the early 20th century while wrestling with themes of gender, race and intersectionality.
The musical chronicles the campaigns of suffragists and historical figures like Alice Paul, played by Maya Keleher, Carrie Chapman Catt, played by Marya Grandy and Inez Milholland, played by Monica Tulia Ramirez.
While the soundtrack does not feature as many hits as “Hamilton” or “Wicked,” several of its songs are both memorable and charming. As leaders of the National Woman’s Party — a political organization fighting for women’s voting rights — celebrate their success at the 1913 Women Suffrage Parade in Washington, D.C., Doris Stevens, played by Livvy Marcus, sorrowfully recalls being called a “bitch” by a man at the protest.
The women of the NWP respond with the cheeky number “Great American Bitch,” where they reclaim the misogynistic epithet as a badge of female empowerment.
In unison, the women shout: “Drink if they’ve called you a nag / Drink if they’ve called you a slut (or a shrew) / Drink if they’ve called you a crazy hag / Drink if the rumors are true / I’m a great American bitch.” The song’s energy infectiously captures the camaraderie of sisterhood.
The number “If We Were Married” exposes the systemic misogyny of the 1910s in a similarly playful fashion. Brandi Porter plays Dudley Malone, a U.S. Department of State official who flirts with Stevens. She refutes his advances while citing the political consequences of marriage for women.
When Stevens passionately sang “Because economically speaking / I die by becoming your wife” on Tuesday, the PPAC theater erupted in whistles and applause.
While the musical also amplifies the voices of African American activists such as Ida B. Wells, played by Danyel Fulton, and Mary Church Terrell, played by understudy Ariana Burks, it ultimately centers around white activism. Although the story highlights how African American women in the suffrage movement felt excluded, it would have benefited from a deeper dive into the significant achievements of Black women’s suffrage groups.
The show concludes with the hopeful “Keep Marching,” a track that has evolved since its first appearance at The Public Theater in 2022, according to Jill Furman ’90, lead producer of the show and a member of the President’s Advisory Council for the Arts at Brown. Furman told The Herald that she was brought to tears when Shaina Taub — the writer and composer of “Suffs” — unveiled the new finale.
“It was astounding,” Furman said. “I think (Taub’s) a genius.”
Though the finale is a celebration of motherhood, femininity and women’s suffrage in the early 20th century, its poignant message about unequal treatment remains relevant today. To Furman, the show illustrates how “progress is possible but not guaranteed.”
If viewers want to make a change, they “have to pick up the mantle from those who came before and keep marching,” she added.
