Video: The Teen Critics Want to Keep Marching After Seeing SUFFS
Aug 20, 2024
Watch as Liora (15), Charles (16), and Nicoletta (16) head to the Music Box Theater to check out Suffs on Broadway. Curious about what they thought of the show? Find out in this video!
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Hi, I'm Nicoletta. I'm 16 years old
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Hi, my name is Charles. I'm 16 years old. Hi, I'm Leora. I'm 15 years old, and I got to check out Suffs on Broadway
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Here's what I thought of it. Suffs is about the women's suffrage movement in the United States
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It follows Alice Hall, a fierce young suffragist who, with the help of her friends, fought tirelessly for her right to vote and established her own political party
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the National Women's Party. In that struggle, she goes up against several opponents, most notably
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the president at the time, Woodrow Wilson, whose political inaction continues to frustrate her
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and the established suffragist movement led by Carrie Chapman Cat, which she feels isn't aggressive
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enough in finishing the fight. She doesn't go it alone, though. She is joined by an inspiring
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crew of four friends, Doris, Lucy, Ruzza, and Aynes, who help her along the way
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In a nutshell, Suf's is about the women's suffrage movement, but in all honesty, it's so much more than that
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It's about equality for women, yes, but it's also about equality for everyone, people of color, people of different backgrounds
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And most importantly, it's about what we can accomplish when we come together to fight for what is right
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Going in, I knew I had a general idea of what the women's rights movement was about, but I didn't realize how many details I wasn't aware about
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For example, I didn't know Enmes Millen-Holland literally rode into the march on a horse
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And I also didn know that they were imprisoned and went on a hunger strike Sufts taught me a lot of really important history about the suffragist movement I embarrassed to say that Ida B Wells was the only historical figure represented in the show
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that I had heard of before seeing it. It's really surprising that this history doesn't get taught in most schools
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and it makes this show all the more valuable. We Demand to Be Heard was one of the most powerful performances I have seen
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The rage and tenacity of these women echoed throughout the theater. My favorite song from Suffs has got to be Fire and Tea
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First of all, I loved the fire on stage, obviously. Like, that's a huge special effect that I've never seen before
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I also loved the overlap between Carrie and the women's rights crowd outside
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It was, there were beautiful harmonies, beautiful chorus, and it was just impressive and captivating to watch
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My favorite song in Suffs is not so much a song as a refrain
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that repeats a few times in the course of the show. The lyrics go, how will we do it when it's never been done
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How will we find a way where there isn't one? And on top of there being such great musical harmony
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in those two lines, they also really embody what the show is about
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My favorite actor and character in the show was Holly Gold as the fearless Alice Paul
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They are the understudy, and the moment they entered the stage, I was captivated by the character
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in Holly's incredible performance. Throughout the show, I found myself relating more and more to Alice, but I will say
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that Inesnel Holland has got to be my favorite character in the show. I love her spunk and her way of
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approaching everything Her voice was beautiful I loved every song she was in Her costumes were also so much fun Like can you imagine going up on stage in that beautiful flowy skirt that she goes on in the beginning I love it
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My favorite character in Suf's is Ines Milholland, played by the amazing Hannah Cruz
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I was lucky enough to see Suf's two years ago at the public theater, when Philippa Asu played that part
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and both of them brought such amazing and different things to such a special role
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The show did spark an interest in me about the women's women's suffrage movement in the United States. When a Nesnel Holland came out at the protest
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on a huge horse, I was mind-blown to find out that she really did do that on the Metro Home after the show
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I also had no idea that women had been fighting for so long with little to no changes, and yet they
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did not give up for the rights that we have today. I left the show wanting to know more about the
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individual stories and histories of each character. I really found interesting the amount of research that
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went into all the characters and how realistic they all seemed. And the whole story is just really
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interesting to me. Suffs is a story about the suffragist movement, and as such, it might feel
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especially empowering for female audiences. However, the bottom line is that it's just an entertaining
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compelling musical with lots of really wonderful characters, and I know I saw the men in the
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audience cheering just as loudly at the final curtain. I think other teenagers would absolutely love Suffs
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It's so crucial to understand the history of what we now consider to be a basic right. And
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Suffs was such a fun way to learn The show is so full of life and laughter and extremely important lessons for young people everywhere If I had to describe Suffs in one word it would be groundbreaking Not just in the story the show tells onstage but in the story of its offstage journey
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Suff's broke an important barrier by having an all-female and non-binary cast and creative team
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And with this year's Tony Awards, it made its author and star, Shana Taub
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the first woman to single-handedly win Best Book of a Musical and the musical
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and best score of a musical in the same year. To describe soft in one word, I would say fierce
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I just think it's so totally fierce to see the American woman of today
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tell the story of the American woman of yesterday and empower them and just keep their legacies alive
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to just commemorate what they did because it is so important. And I really did not know enough about it
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And I'm super glad I learned. If I could describe softs in one word, I would pick continuity
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because the story of the musical never truly stops. That is shown at many points when Alice realizes she is now the old fogey
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when Carrie realizes that Alice is the girl she once was, when in the end we see all of the women marching
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and saying that they will not start marching, because truly the fight for equality is never going to be over
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And there can be sequels written about future fights for equality that have happened and will happen
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but our fight will never stop, and that is why it is continuous
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Soffs is running on Broadway at the Music Box Theater. Check back later for more from Broadway World's Teen Critics
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