Frontmezzjunkies reports: Suffs on PBS’ Great Performances
By Ross
Some Broadway shows feel like they should live long and true far beyond the limits of their original run, and with the arrival of the musical Suffs on PBS’ Great Performances, it ensures this urgent musical continues its march forward. What began as a powerful theatrical experience at the Public Theater and then from inside a Broadway house, this smart and iconic show will now reach thirsty audiences across the country and around the world, allowing a story rooted in collective action to finally meet a truly collective audience.
Suffs, the Tony Award-winning musical by Shaina Taub (Shakespeare in the Park’s Musical Twelfth Night), is a powerful musical achievement, dynamically following the women who fought tirelessly for the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment. And stitched into that banner is a timely urgency that extends far beyond the theatre walls. Watching the production on Broadway in 2024, it was impossible not to feel the “complex camaraderie” that beats in the heart of the piece, unfolding with clarity, conviction, and emotional force. Taub’s work never treated history as distant or polite remembrance. Instead, it climbed “up the stairs to equality with a clarity of vision and an astute air of conviction,” and held a strongly framed fist in the air, reminding us all that progress is rarely neat and never inevitable.
Captured by PBS with the original Broadway cast, the filmed production preserves powerful performances that helped define the show’s impact and emotional core, including Taub herself as Alice Paul alongside Nikki M. James, Jenn Colella, Hannah Cruz, Ally Bonino, and an ensemble that gave voice to both unity and disagreement within the movement. The musical’s strength has always lived in its willingness to embrace imperfection, revealing leaders not as icons carved in stone but as determined individuals navigating conflict, compromise, and courage. Even in its most stirring moments, the show understood that none of these women were without flaws, and in that honesty, the story found its deepest resonance.
Part of the thrill of seeing Suffs, as directed with clarity and vision by Leigh Silverman (Broadway’s
Grand Horizons), was witnessing how its music and storytelling never lost momentum, building toward an emotional culmination that landed with what felt like a genuine and much-needed call to action. Songs such as “Keep Marching” did more than conclude an evening at the theatre. They echoed outward, reinforcing the idea that, as the musical so wisely reminds us, “the work is never over.” That message feels especially fitting now, as we watch the current administration of the United States attack voter rights, especially for women. The production moves from a limited theatrical engagement into homes and classrooms where its story will hopefully continue to inspire new audiences to keep the work and the march forward going.
PBS will also broadcast Kathleen Marshall’s staging of Top Hat later in May, expanding the reach of musical theatre even further. But the arrival of Suffs carries a particular emotional weight for this theatre junkie, mainly because of the world we find ourselves living in. Broadway runs end, and tours run their course. Yet this broadcast ensures that a musical built on revolutionary voices will now be experienced by the public in a new way. For those who saw it live, it offers a chance to revisit a remarkable achievement. For those who did not, it opens the door, allowing this passionate, thoughtful, and fiercely human story to keep marching forward across the land, regardless of where you live in proximity to Broadway. This is exactly what Suffs and its message were always meant to do.
