NEW YORK (AP) — Shaina Taub was in the audience at “Suffs,” her buzz and timing The new musical About women’s suffrage, when she spied something that pleased her.
It was Intermission, and Taub, both creator and star, was watching his understudy perform at a matinee preview last week. Suddenly, he saw audience members looking up the Wikipedia pages of key figures featured in the show: women Ida B. Wells, Inez Mulholland and Alice Paul, who not only led the fight for suffrage; But it also wrote Equal Rights Amendment ( Still not the law But that’s a whole other story).
“I was like, this is my goal, exactly!” Tab, who plays Paul, later said from his dressing room. “I do everything I can to make you fall in love with these women, root for them, care for them. So it was a really satisfying moment to witness.
Satisfying but also calming. The reality is that few audience members know much about the American suffrage movement. So the all-female creative team behind it “Suffs,” which had a high-profile Off-Broadway run. and opens Thursday on Broadway to wider acclaim, knowing they’re starting from scratch.
This is an opportunity, says Taib, who studies social movements at New York University. But it’s also a huge challenge: How do you educate but also entertain?
One member of the “Suffs” team has a particularly passionate relationship with the material. He will be the producer. Hillary Clinton.
She was undoubtedly the first lady. winning the US presidential nomination of a major party, And first of all Get the popular vote. But Clinton says she never studied the suffrage movement in school, not even at Wellesley. Only later in life did she fill the void, including a tour as first lady. Seneca Falls, Home of the first American Women’s Rights Convention 70 years ago 19th Amendment Voted for women.
“I became very interested in women’s history through my work, and through writing and reading,” Clinton told The Associated Press. helps fill a huge gap in our awareness of the long, decades-long struggle for yogurt.”
It was Taub who wrote to Clinton, asking him to come on board. “I thought about it for a nanosecond, and decided absolutely, I want to help grow this production,” Clinton says. A noted theater lover, Clinton described making frequent trips to New York as a college student and anchoring for concessions, often seeing only the second act, when she could get in for free. “For years, I only saw the second act of ‘Hair,'” she quips.
Then came Clinton Malala Yousuf Zai, Toub also wrote about becoming a producer. As Secretary of State, Clinton got to know the Pakistani education activist. He was shot dead by a Taliban gunman at the age of 15. Clinton wanted Yousafzai to know that she was involved and hopeful. Nobel Peace Prize Winner will be too.
“I’m thrilled,” Clinton says of Yousafzai’s inclusion, “because yes, this is an American story, but the pushback against women’s rights at this time in history is global.”
Yousafzai also watched the Lee Silverman-directed show, and liked it. She has also been a longtime fan of musicals, although she notes that her acting career began and ended with a school skit in Pakistan, which does not feature very good male bosses. Her own education about suffrage was limited to “a page or two in a history book that talked about the suffrage movement in the UK”, where she had moved for medical treatment.
“I didn’t know the American side of the story until now,” Yousafzai told the AP. Between whites and coloreds – something the show addresses with “Wait My Turn” sung by Nikki M. James. Wells, black activist and journalist.
“This musical really helped me see activism through a different lens,” Yousafzai says. , requires an open mind … and the way you need to show that you are listening to the right point of view and everyone in your activity.
When asked for feedback by the “Sufis” team, Yousafzai says he replied that he liked the show as it was. (He visited the cast last month, and toured backstage.) Clinton, who attended the rehearsal, quipped: “I sent the notes, because I was told that’s what producers do. “
Clinton added: “I love the transitions. It takes a lot of work to get the storytelling right — to decide what’s sung versus spoken, how to make sure it’s not just a piece of history. Telling, but rather entertaining.”
In fact, the Off-Broadway version was criticized by some as feeling too much like a history lesson. The new version feels faster and lighter, with a greater emphasis on humor — even in a show that details hunger strikes and force-feeding.
A moment where humor shines through: A new song titled “Great American Bitch” opens with a man calling her a bitch. The song reclaims the word with joy and laughter. Taub says this moment – and another where the sculpture President Woodrow Wilson (played by Grace McLean, in a cast that is all female or non-binary) has been burned – has been popular with audiences.
“As much as the show has changed,” she says, “the backbone of it is the same. A lot of the stuff I got rid of was just like clearing the brush.
Most of the original cast is back. Jane Colella is playing. Kerry Chapman Kate, An old conservative voter who squabbled over strategy and timing with the younger Paul. James returned as Wells, while Mulholland played. Philip Sue Off-Broadway, now played by Hannah Cruz.
Its parallel is given by a special Lin Manuel Miranda Blockbuster About the founders It’s perhaps no surprise that some have dubbed the show “Harmilton.”
“I have to say,” Clinton says of Taub, “I think she’s doing for this part of American history what Lynn did for our founding fathers — making it alive, accessible, understandable. I Hoping ‘Suffs’ will have the same impact as ‘Hamilton’.
It may seem like a tall order, but the producers are happy with the audience’s reaction. “They’re laughing even more than we thought they would at the parts we thought were funny, and cheering at the other parts,” Clinton says. A particular joy comes at the end, when Paul proposes the ERA. “One cast member said, ‘Who would have ever thought that the Equal Rights Amendment would find joy in a Broadway theater?'” Clinton recalled.
The show certainly has one clear advantage: timeliness. During the off-Broadway run, news broke that the Supreme Court was preparing. Reversing Rowe v. Wade, Creating a clear sense of urgency in the audience. Begins as a Broadway run Abortion rights In the news again – and an important issue In the presidential election Only months away.
Taub takes the long view. She’s been working on the show for over a decade, and says there’s always something going on to make it timely.
“I think,” she muses, “it just goes to show that the time is always right to learn about women’s history.”
Credit : apnews.com
