The musical, about early-20th-century efforts to win the right to vote for women, will open in April at the Music Box Theater.
She has been a first lady, a United States senator, a secretary of state, a Democratic nominee for president, and, most recently, a podcaster and a Columbia University professor. Now Hillary Rodham Clinton is adding some razzle-dazzle to her résumé: She’s becoming a Broadway producer. Clinton has joined the team backing “Suffs,” a new musical about the women’s suffrage movement, as has Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner.
The producing team announced Wednesday that the show, which had an Off Broadway run last year at the Public Theater, will transfer to Broadway in the spring, opening at the Music Box Theater on April 18.
“Suffs” explores the early-20th-century struggle for women’s voting rights in the United States; the dramatic tension involves an intergenerational struggle over how best to hasten political change. The musical is a longtime passion project for the singer-songwriter Shaina Taub, who wrote the book, music and lyrics; Taub also starred in the Off Broadway production, but casting for the Broadway run has not yet been announced.
The musical is being directed by Leigh Silverman (“Violet”); the lead producers are Jill Furman (“Hamilton”) and Rachel Sussman (“Just for Us”). The show is being capitalized for up to $19.5 million, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission; Furman said the actual budget will be $19 million.
The Off Broadway production of “Suffs” opened to mixed reviews; in The New York Times, the critic Maya Phillips wrote that “the whole production feels so attuned to the gender politics and protests of today, so aware of possible critiques that it takes on its subject with an overabundance of caution.” But “Suffs” sold well, and Taub and the rest of the creative team have been reworking the show over the past year.
“We’ve done a lot of work on it — we’ve listened to the critics, and we listened to the audiences,” Furman said. In the months since the Public run, Furman and Sussman added, Taub has rewritten some songs, distilled the book, removed recitative and shortened the running time. “We feel really confident in what we’ve created,” Sussman said.
The lead producers said Clinton and Yousafzai would be ambassadors for the show, helping to promote it as well as offering input. Clinton is a lifelong theater fan who, in the years since her bid for president, has become a frequent Broadway (and sometimes Off Broadway) theatergoer. Last year, a special performance of “Suffs” was held to raise money for groups including Onward Together, which she co-founded to support progressive causes and candidates; Clinton attended and participated in a talkback. Yousafzai, an advocate for women’s education, also saw the show, and called it “amazing.”
“Suffs” is joining what is shaping up to be a robust season for new musicals on Broadway: It is the 11th new musical to announce an opening this season, with at least a few more still expected. “The season is very crowded, and we recognize that,” Furman said, “but we think there is a market for this kind of story.”
Deadline reports that most of the Broadway cast is making the move from Off Broadway, though Hannah Cruz, who played Ruza Wenclawska at the Public, takes over from Phillipa Soo as Inez Milholland, and Skinner is taking over for Aisha de Haas in the Alva Belmont/Phoebe Burn roles.
As well as Tabu, Suffs will also star Tony Award winner Nikki M. James (The Book of Mormon) as Ida B. Wells, Tony Award nominee Jenn Colella (Come From Away) as Carrie Chapman Catt, Grace McLean (Natasha, Pierre and The Great Comet of 1812) as President Woodrow Wilson, Hannah Cruz (MCC’s The Connector) as Inez Milholland, Kim Blanck (Signature Theatre's Octet) as Ruza Wenclawska, Anastacia McCleskey (Waitress) as Mary Church Terrell, Ally Bonino (Broadway debut) as Lucy Burns, Tsilala Brock (The Book of Mormon National Tour) as Dudley Malone, Nadia Dandashi (Broadway debut) as Doris Stevens, and Tony Award nominee Emily Skinner (Side Show) as Alva Belmont/Phoebe Burn. Rounding out the company are Hawley Gould (Lincoln Center Theater’s Camelot) as the Alternate for Alice Paul, Jaygee Macapugay (Here Lies Love) as Mollie Hay, and Laila Drew as Phyllis Terrell/Robin (Broadway debut). The ensemble will feature Dana Costello (Pretty Woman) as well as Jenna Bainbridge, Monica Tulia Ramirez, and Ada Westfall making their Broadway debuts. The cast will also include Christine Heesun Hwang (Les MisérablesNational Tour), Kirsten Scott (Jersey Boys), Housso Semon (Girl From The North Country), and D'Kaylah Unique Whitley (Dear Evan Hansen).
The show will begin performances at the Music Box Theatre on March 26 2024 ahead of its opening night on April 18.
For me the most encouraging news is that Shaina Taub and Leigh Silverman have reworked the show. It's not that it was bad - it was quite decent - but it did feel (to me) derivative. Or maybe it was just watching a sung-through (sometimes rapped) musical about the life of an under-appreciated political figure at the Public Theater that reminded me of Hamilton.