The New York Times - Somewhat Recommended
"...The direction, by Leigh Silverman, feels as methodical as the text; the pacing is speedy, and the songs are dense with exposition like those of "Hamilton." But "Suffs" turns out to be all work and mostly no play, and when it comes to the music itself nothing really pops. There are a few dry touches of vaudeville, and pop and some sugary songs like "If We Were Married," a number that feels like a contemporary stab at Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers's 1937 rendition of "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off." It's a parody of such cutesy courtship numbers yet it delivers just that."
Variety - Recommended
"...Director Leigh Silverman draws on a deep reservoir of skill to humanize the many, many characters in the play. Hell, she wins admiration just for directing the physical traffic that has everyone running up and down a steep set of stairs while avoiding bumping into the giant black columns that dominate Mimi Lien's expressionistic set. Choreographer Raja Feather Kelly surely deserves some credit for that, as well."
Entertainment Weekly - Highly Recommended
"...Suffs, which opens tonight at the Public Theater and runs until May 15th, is sharp, engaging, and downright fun - as well as a reminder that even though we can laugh at jokes about how women are treated, we still have so much to fight for. Take the show's opening number, for example: a jovial, vaudeville-like song called "Watch Out For The Suffragette!" where all 19 members of the femme-identifying cast poke fun at their own gender while pretending to be men. It gets you tapping your feet and rocking in your chair, and it also makes you sober when you realize the implication of the lyrics."
Time Out New York - Recommended
"...Suffs is remarkably easy to follow as it presents its sheroes in all their imperfect glory, exploring the ideological, generational and racial divides that persist to this day in feminist politics. Although the show is nearly three hours long, not every pioneering woman gets her due. The production works hard to spotlight actors of color, but the Black activists Ida B. Wells and Mary Church Terrell-beautifully embodied by Nikki M. James and Cassondra James, respectively-feel sidelined, giving Wells' stirring solo "Wait My Turn" an unfortunate double meaning. Yet there's much to admire and enjoy in Suffs, which may well have a brilliant future ahead of it. Like its protagonists, it's a progressive work in progress."
TheaterScene.net - Somewhat Recommended
"...Director Leigh Silverman is much too dutiful in bringing Taub's vision to the stage, refusing to edit any of the elements that make the musical unfold like a stilted term paper from a very committed student. When it comes to loosening things up a bit, Mimi Lien's monumental staircase also doesn't help matters, making for some awkward blocking and severely restricting Raja Feather Kelly's choreography, which judging by his past work, needed more physical, as well as creative, space. Though, even if Taub and Silverman had attempted to provide the latter, Natasha Katz's murky lighting design wouldn't have made it easy to see."
Broadway Blog - Highly Recommended
"...There is much to love in this powerhouse production. For starters, it boasts an all-woman cast, including Broadway stars Phillipa Soo of Hamilton and Come From Away's Jenn Colella. Ms. Taub does most of the show's heavy-hitting as youth agitator Alice Paul, who bucks against not only misogynist-in-chief Woodrow Wilson (Grace McLean) but the old guard led by Carrie Chapman Catt (Colella)."
Daily Beast - Recommended
"...The musical evokes the hunger strikes the women undertook when jailed after protesting at the White House. On stage this intense period of time is bizarrely distilled into a jumble of whey-faced misery and balletic fainting. As in Paradise Square on Broadway, which also attempts to sketch significant social moments through song and dance, the musical charts a rambling path before a resonant and moving finale, making this critic wish we had seen more of the relationships between the women on stage evolve throughout the show (mostly, it is just policy debate and disagreements that we witness)."
Theatrely - Somewhat Recommended
"...The one confrontation that does play out successfully is the one happening in the score, where the Suffs' samey, Hamilton-lite melodies are beaten out by any number sung by the opposition. President Wilson (Grace McLean, spectacularly milking her part of all it's worth) receives delightful, inventive vaudeville tunes - amicably choreographed by Raja Feather Kelly on Mimi Lien's functional stairwell set - that sparkle with the wit of someone whose words we know contradict our own mentality. In fact, the only songs with any sort of charisma are the ones written against the Suffs, i.e. the ones with actual stakes."
New York Stage Review - Highly Recommended
"...Suffs can still use some editing and sculpting-it's impossible for the author to concentrate on refinements when she is onstage giving a herculean performance every night-but that will come in time. (As we learned from that other musical, the author-as-star might seem irreplaceable but many other performers will eventually thrive in the well-written role.) Even now, the present excitement is similar to what you might have experienced on the very same stage at the Public during the premiere productions of A Chorus Line, Elaine Stritch at Liberty, Fun Home, and Hamilton. That's quite a class, and Taub is on the verge of becoming a member."
