Suffs Brings the Fight for the Vote to Life at The National Theatre

There are musicals that entertain, and there are musicals that send you out into the street wanting to change the world. Suffs, now playing at The National Theatre through June 28, manages to do both at once, and it has arrived in Washington at exactly the right moment. Shaina Taub's Tony-winning chronicle of the American women's suffrage movement is a rousing, big-hearted, and unmistakably political piece of theater, and on the strength of its first national tour, it has earned some of the most enthusiastic notices to greet a touring production in DC all year.

Taub, who wrote the book, music, and lyrics and originated the role of Alice Paul on Broadway, spent roughly a decade developing the show, and that care shows. Suffs won the Tony Awards for Best Book and Best Score, and the writing has been singled out as one of the production's great strengths, with the kind of soaring melodies and resonant lyrics that speak not only to the suffragists' struggle but to anyone who has ever fought for something difficult. Directed by Leigh Silverman, the production tells the story of the years leading up to the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920, the law that finally guaranteed women the right to vote.

At its center is the clash between two generations of activists. Carrie Chapman Catt has spent decades leading the established movement through patient, incremental work, while the young, college-fresh firebrand Alice Paul arrives with radical ideas, beginning with a march on Washington that was an audacious notion at the time. The two women are rarely on the same page, but they come to understand that they need each other, and the path forward runs through a constitutional amendment, the endorsement of President Woodrow Wilson, and ultimately the ratification of the necessary number of states, a fight that comes down to a single vote in Tennessee. Along the way the suffragists sacrifice careers and families, face imprisonment, and risk everything for the cause.

What the show captures so well, and what critics have responded to most warmly, is that Suffs is far more than a history lesson. It is a story about humans, politics, hope, defeat, friendship, and sacrifice, and it never loses sight of the people inside the movement. The chemistry between the leads has been called dynamite, with each making her choices feel natural and earned. As Alice Paul, the production's leading performance has been described as a genuine powerhouse, balancing impressive vocals, heartbreaking emotional depth, and sudden flashes of levity, while the actor playing Catt brings poise, a beautiful soprano, and a piercing intelligence to the old guard of the cause.

The supporting company has drawn its own share of praise. The socialite Inez Milholland, who funds the effort and famously leads a parade on horseback, has been singled out for a larger-than-life charisma and joy so infectious that audiences felt ready to follow her right out of the theater. The show also makes room for the complicated and essential role of race in the movement. The journalist Ida B. Wells refuses to be relegated to the back of the parade to appease Southern supporters, and her confrontations with Alice Paul over the place of Black women in the cause land with real force, anchored by a performance described as both calculated and powerful. Her friend and fellow activist Mary Church Terrell brings an ineffable charm that turns one of the show's numbers into an anthem the whole audience wants to join. The deep bond between these women registers in every scene they share.

The ensemble surrounding Alice Paul, including her loyal college friend Lucy Burns, the immigrant labor organizer Ruza Wenclawska, and the quick-witted secretary Doris Stevens, has been celebrated for a camaraderie that feels thrillingly real, and for voices that are at once sweet and powerful. Even the figures who could play as villains earn their moments; the actor taking on Woodrow Wilson has been praised for finding the dark comedy in a slick, obstructionist politician and clearly relishing every minute.

The score is a highlight unto itself. "Great American Bitch," one of the show's early anthems, has been called a raucously entertaining celebration of female solidarity, reclaiming an insult and turning it into a rallying cry. Numbers like "Keep Marching," "The Young Are at the Gates," and "Wait My Turn" carry an inspirational charge, while quieter, more intimate songs reveal the production at its most moving. "If We Were Married" wraps a hard lesson in disarming sweetness, "A Letter from Harry's Mother" finds enormous power in deceptively simple delivery, and "Is It Worth It?" lingers as a wrenching meditation on everything a person gives up in pursuit of meaningful work. For all its rally-the-troops energy, critics have noted, the show often shines brightest in its small, interpersonal moments.

The physical production is sleek and purposeful. The touring set, evoking the original design with monument-like columns and a wide open stage, lets the story move effortlessly through time and place, and is perfectly suited to the scale of a national tour. The costumes instantly establish era and class, and the sweeping choreography delivers striking stage pictures, from a procession of chairs to the surging intensity of the marching numbers. It is also worth noting the production is led on the podium by a woman conductor, a fitting touch for a show about women claiming their rightful place.

Perhaps the surest sign of the production's impact is the way DC audiences have responded in the moment. Opening-night crowds reportedly broke into spontaneous applause and vocal reactions again and again, a testament to a show that functions as a genuine channel for protest and hope. Suffs has been called one of the most politically charged pieces of musical theater to reach DC this year, an electrifying evening that does everything you want great theater to do: it tells a story well, it educates, it stirs empathy, and it leaves you uplifted and inspired. More than one observer has placed it alongside 1776 as one of the nation's essential historical musicals.

Running approximately two hours and thirty minutes with one intermission, Suffs plays through June 28, 2026, at The National Theatre, 1321 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC. It is a stirring, timely, and deeply satisfying night at the theater, and one that DC audiences should not let pass them by.