A six-time Tony nominated musical exploring the women’s suffrage movement in the United States, Suffs opened at Broadway’s Music Box Theatre on April 18 and has received plenty of critical acclaim. Deadline called it a “smart, funny and beautifully sung musical,” while The New York Times called it “smart and noble and a bit like a rally.” Created by Shaina Taub and directed by Leigh Silverman, the 2-hour-and-30-minute musical tells the story of the passionate women who fought hard and risked their lives for the right to vote and explores various victories and failures in the enduring fight for gender equality.
Taub also stars in the musical as Alice Paul, one of the fiery leaders of the young “suffs” who clash with the more cautious older generation of Susan B. Anthony-era organizers, like Carrie Chapman Catt, played by Jenn Colella. Other cast members include Ally Bonino, Anastacia McCleskey, Nikki M. James, and Grace McLean, who portrays President Woodrow Wilson.
On October 11, Suffs producers announced on X, formerly Twitter, that the show will end its run on Broadway on January 5, 2025.
Closing on Broadway in January
Suffs will have played 301 regular performances after its final showing at the Music Box Theatre on January 5. The show had an average capacity of 85.59 percent for the week ending September 29 and did particularly well during the summer, achieving 100 percent capacity and a weekly revenue high of $942,785 for the week ending June 23.
As of October 17, Suffs has grossed $21.5 million through 205 performances and 24 previews. The musical, based on Taub’s award-winning book and score, opened Off-Broadway at the Public Theater in April 2022.
National Tour Launching in 2025
Although it’s closing on Broadway, Suffs will embark on a nationwide tour beginning in September 2025. It will first be shown at 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle, while additional cities will be announced in the near future.
“Watching audiences encounter the inspiring women of Suffs, many of whom they had never heard of before, has been extremely profound, especially in this election season,” said producers Rachel Sussman and Jill Furman in a press statement. “We are thrilled to have played a part in giving new life to the suffragists’ fight for the vote through Shaina Taub’s award-winning book and score and look forward to sharing it with audiences across the country.”
Creator Shaina Taub
An aspiring performer and writer from an early age, Taub was just 16 years old when she enrolled at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and later garnered acclaim at New York’s Public Theater, where she developed a pair of Shakespeare plays (Twelfth Night and As You Like It) into musicals for its summer program. She collaborated with Elton John, writing the lyrics for The Devil Wears Prada musical adaptation, which opened in London’s West End in October 2024.
Taub is just the second woman in Broadway history to star in a musical for which she also wrote the book, music, and lyrics. Micki Grant was the first, writing and starring in Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope in 1972.
High-Profile Producers
Taub’s award-winning production had the backing of several high-profile producers, including former U.S. senator, first lady, secretary of state, and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. After finding out that Clinton saw Suffs in 2022, Taub asked her to join the show as a producer. Clinton attended the first rehearsal for Suffs‘ Broadway production and worked with Taub on various creative decisions.
Malala Yousafzai, a Nobel Peace Prize winner known for her education-focused activism in Pakistan and her fierce opposition to the Taliban, also had a producer credit for Suffs.
A Pair of Tony Awards
Taub won the 2024 Tony Awards for Best Book of a Musical and Best Original Score, beating out Adam Guettel (Days of Wine and Roses), Will Butler (Stereophonic), Justin Levine, Jonathan Clay, and Zach Chance (The Outsiders), and David Byrne and Fatboy Slim (Here Lies Love) in the latter category. She also won the Outer Critics Circle Awards for Outstanding Score and Outstanding Book of a Musical and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music.
Suffs also received Tony nominations in the following four categories: Best Musical, Best Featured Actress in a Musical (James), Best Direction of a Musical (Silverman), and Best Costume Design of a Musical (Paul Tazewell).
Performance at Broadway Rallies for Kamala
Suffs’ exploration of women’s fight for equality is still relevant today, with many issues at play in the November 2024 election, including the gender pay gap and women’s health care, specifically the U.S. constitutional right to abortion, which the Supreme Court eliminated in 2022 by overruling Roe v. Wade. It’s also noteworthy that, during the height of the musical’s popularity in the summer, the Democrats announced that VP Kamala Harris was their candidate for the election and, if successful, would become the U.S.’ first woman president.
Taub, along with several other performers in Suffs‘ all-female cast, performed one of the show’s popular numbers, “Keep Marching,” during the Broadway Rallies for Kamala event in New York City on October 14. Several other theater stars, including Audra McDonald and Billy Porter, participated in the event.