The popular musical arrives at the Schuster Center as part of the Dayton Live Broadway series, March 31-April 5. It focuses on the historical events leading up to the ratification of the the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution in 1920. The play brings to life the group of powerful and fascinating women who worked feverishly for a woman’s right to vote.
It introduces audiences to historical figures including Alice Paul, Ida B. Wells, Carrie Chapman Catt, Alva Belmost and Phoebe Burn.
The show won the Outer Critics’ Circle award for the Best New Musical and a Tony Award for the Book of a Musical Original Score. Credit for music, lyrics and book goes to the talented Shaina Taub, an American actress, singer, musician and Tony-award winning composer who originally appeared in the leading role.
A notable producing team
The producing team includes two powerful women of our own time: Secretary Hillary Clinton and Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai. It also includes lead producer Rachel Sussman who came to Dayton recently to participate in a panel discussion at the Victoria Theatre on International Women’s Day.
Sussman first became enamored with suffrage history when she was a preteen growing up in Detroit and years later asked Taub if she would be interested in writing a musical about it.
Themes in the musical, Sussman said, include the intergenerational tension between the old guard and the young radical, the racial conflicts embedded within the movement and the sacrifices of dedicating your life to a cause as an activist.
Sussman hopes audiences feel entertained, uplifted and on a deeper level recognize that we need a multiplicity of tactics and voices to make the world better than we found it.
Learning about history
Kinnison, who has always been interested in history and enjoys documentaries, said she found “Suffs” 10 times more interesting than she had expected.
“Women are 50 percent of the population and these women fought long and hard for their rights to be heard,” said the Kettering woman. “They gave their lives to this project and their passion benefitted us today.”
Kinnison calls “Suffs” a beautiful joyful musical that does a nice job of moving through time.
“I loved how it was females playing the male roles and there was a good balance between humor and seriousness. The costumes were beautiful.”
The Dayton connection
Diane Herman of Clayton said because of Mary Poppins we sometimes refer to the women who fought for female enfranchisement as suffragettes. But in the United States the correct term is suffragists.
Herman, who became interested in the topic as a member of the League of Women Voters, said in 1912 an organization was formed known as the Women’s Suffrage Association of Dayton and Montgomery County.
“They held a parade in 1916 down Main and Ludlow streets, attended by its most famous citizens, including Orville and Wilbur Wright. After the Nineteenth Amendment passed, Ohio was the fifth state to ratify. In 1920, the local association became the League of Women Voters, one of the oldest and largest local Leagues in the United States.”
Thought-provoking
Robyn Lightcap, executive director of Preschool Promise, was honored as one of the League’s “Dangerous Dames” two years ago. The term was coined in honor of those Dayton suffragists who marched and protested on the streets of Dayton and were deemed “dangerous to polite society.”
Coincidentally, on the night of the Dayton award ceremony, Lightcap had a conflict— she’d already made plans to be in New York for the opening preview night of “Suffs” on Broadway.
“There was such electricity in the room that night,” said Lightcap, who took her teenage daughter, Taryn, to the show. “We had a magical time. It’s an all-female cast and very powerful. On every seat in the theater there was a purple sash, the kind the suffragists wore. Many people dressed in white as a nod to the suffragists who wore white.”
Lightcap said the thought-provoking musical caused her to reflect on the fact that the 19th Amendment still did not include Black women.
Now Lightcap is forward to seeing the show again at the Schuster Center with her mother and another daughter.
“I love it!,” she said. “It’s all music and they tell the story through really creative lyrics.”
Dani Lee Hutch, who grew up in Ohio and graduated from Cedarville University, is the touring show’s music director. She said that as a conductor her aim is to communicate with audiences through her service as liaison between those onstage and those in the pit.
“The score has a variety of music styles, including 1910 swing, pop, polka and contemporary music theater. This show is a keyboard conduct, meaning I play keyboard while I conduct the show.”
Sussman said she is most excited for audiences to encounter the extraordinary, off-forgotten real-life women portrayed in “Suffs.”
“Hopefully they will feel inspired by their ancestors’ unfinished fight.”
HOW TO GO
What: “Suffs,” The Broadway musical on tour
When: Tuesday, March 31 through Sunday, April 5
Where: Benjamin & Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center, 1 W. Second St., Dayton
Tickets: $54 and up. Call 937-228-3630 or daytonlive.org. You can also buy tickets at the box office.
Extend your experience:
- The “Suffs on Tour” website has a fascinating educational component that summarizes a lot of interesting historical information on the real suffragists.
- Check out suffsmusical.com
- An hour before each performance check out “Background on Broadway.” It’s free but you’ll need to have a ticket to that day’s performance.
- The Dayton Metro Library has a list of books inspired by the musical. Check out the “Broadway Book Club: Suffs.”
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