Eight p.m., May 8. I turn the station to PBS in order to tune into the only Great Performances performance that interested me at all on the 2026 lineup, Suffs. I enter with a healthy dose of skepticism, knowing basically nothing about what I am about to watch. Also, I’m still feeling the sting of Great Performances yanking Waitress from the 2025 lineup. Why it still stings is beyond me, seeing that I am one of the very few of my generation (millennials) that still believes in physical media. I go in with the “If I don’t like it, I’ll turn it off” approach. I ended up watching from beginning to end.
Let me begin by saying that my knowledge of the women of the suffragette movement can boil down to a bit heard in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. “So not only were they jailed and force-fed and persecuted—but the laundry!” Midge Maisel jokes in Season 3. This is mirrored in the musical’s second act when a Black student intern in the 1970s goes to record Alice Paul hard at work on the Equal Rights Act. “Cool picture of the girl on the horse,” she says. To which Paul replies with pride, “That’s Inez Millholland.” The response is immediate and not unlike my own. “Who?” the intern replies.
I realize I have no idea who these women are. I am appalled at my own lack of knowledge on the subject. As a woman, shouldn’t I know the names of the women who fought so hard for women’s rights? Believe me when I say that this viewing will (hopefully) only be the beginning of my learning experience on the subject.
Boasting an all-female cast—yes, even the male characters are played by women—and a mostly female creative team, Suffs drives the point home on all fronts. One notable exception is Tony- and Oscar-winning costume designer Paul Tazewell. He won the latter of the two aforementioned awards for the first Wicked movie starring Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, and Jonathan Bailey.
The singing begins on my screen almost immediately, a song urging gentleman to “Let Mother Vote,” essentially decreeing, “We raised you; this can’t be any harder” and “two votes are better than one” and sung by the mother figure of our play, Carrie Chapman Catt (portrayed by Jenn Colella).
Mere seconds after the number ends, we are introduced to our second lead, the daughter character of the movement and constant foil to Catt, Alice Paul (Shaina Taub—who also wrote the book and composed all of the music!). Unlike Catt, Paul does not believe in appealing to the men—basically asking for permission until they give in. She believes that women need to fight for their rights. As one of the characters states in the first act tune, “If We Were Married,” “My earnings would be in your name, and I couldn’t control my own spending,” and, “Economically speaking I’d die by becoming your wife.” Catt believes in playing nice, and Paul believes that “Its time to finish the fight”.
Throughout the first act, we are introduced to the suffragettes, as the media calls them—though they prefer to be referred to as suffragists—most notably, the voice of the movement, Inez Millholland (portrayed by Hannah Cruz), a New York socialite who traveled the country vocally advocating for the movement atop a horse and dressed in all white to represent being a woman of the 20th century.
Also extremely notably, the show features Ida B. Wells (portrayed by Nikki M. James), a journalist who fought for Black women’s rights.
The action revolves around a constant push and pull between Catt and the elder movement leaders (the National American Woman Suffrage Association) and Paul and the new members (the National Women’s Party). All the while, President Woodrow Wilson does everything in his power to put off declaring his opposition or support of the Women’s Rights Movement with every passing year, eventually causing his associate, Dudley Malone, to switch sides in a scene that had me cheering at the TV (“That a boy, Dudley!”).
As the curtain rises on act 2, the stakes increase. Paul and the members of the NWP stand at the gates of the White House and demand President Wilson hear what they have to say in the powerful number, “The Young are at the Gates.” He responds by having them imprisoned. All the while, Catt continues to pander to President Wilson and his constituents. “What a coward you’ve become,” sings Mollie Hay (Jaygee Macapugay) when Catt does nothing to disparage how Paul and her friends have been mistreated in prison.
Years pass, and states vote until it is down to one. All they need is one “aye” in the state of Tennessee among a sea of “nays.” Catt and Paul meet again, and Catt has a realization. “Rebel daughter and careful mother, maybe she and I always needed each other,” she sings.
The bill passes, though, not without some sorrow. “They did it,” Wells says with pride. Then a realization strikes. “They’ll still stop our women from voting,” she laments.
Fast-forward to the Nixon administration, when Paul is “the old fogey” (yes, she refers to herself this way).
It isn’t until the finale number that the most important lines of the musical are sung, this time by an older Paul.
“’Cause your ancestors are all the proof that you need,” she sings, “that progress is possible, not guaranteed. It will only be made if we keep marching, keep marching on.”
Suffs won 2 Tony Awards in 2024 (Best Book and Best Original Score) and closed out its Broadway run on January 5, 2025.
Suffs is available to stream on Great Performances through July 31.
Photo courtesy of social media
