Suff Stuff
After a sold-out, extended run at the Public Theater in 2022, the musical Suffs, Shaina Taub’s sweeping chronicle of the women’s suffrage movement, will be opening on Broadway at the Music Box Theater. The opening is set for April 18 (preview dates have not been announced.) Lead producers Jill Furman and Rachel Sussman will be joined by former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai as co-producers. 

Suffs which takes place from 1913 to 1920 and follows the myriad advocates and activists who fought for women’s right to vote, features book, music and lyrics by Taub who also played Alice Paul in the Off-Broadway production. Casting for the Broadway production is to be announced. Leigh Silverman will again serve as director. Furman has told the New York Times the musical has undergone significant revisions by Taub including changing songs and reducing the running time.

“We are elated to welcome Secretary Clinton and Malala to our Suffs producing team,” said Jill Furman and Rachel Sussman. “As powerful role models, they each inspire millions around the globe in their rigorous fight for equality, and we are honored to have two such profoundly dedicated and courageous advocates supporting us on Broadway.”

 “I am thrilled to join with the team behind Suffs in bringing Shaina Taub’s remarkable musical about the unsung heroes of the American women’s suffrage movement to the Broadway stage – where it rightly belongs,” said Hillary Rodham Clinton. “And I can’t wait for audiences to experience this soul-stirring slice of long-overlooked American history; both entertaining and enlightening, Suffs paints a vivid picture of the necessary battles for democracy and equality that are still being fought today.” 

“I loved Suffs when I saw it last year at The Public Theater,” said Malala Yousafzai. “Many women around the world are still fighting for equality — and we draw inspiration and strength through learning the stories of those who came before us. I am honored to support Shaina and this production, and I hope Suffs echoes beyond Broadway to reach audiences worldwide.” 

I’ll bet both Clinton and Yousafzai will be appearing at the 2024 Tony Awards as presenters.

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Solo My Son:
Following acclaimed runs in London’s West End and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Rob Madge’s solo show, My Son’s a Queer (But What Can You Do?), will play Broadway this coming spring with previews starting Feb. 27, 2024 at the Lyceum Theater prior to an opening set for March 12. Madge wrote and stars in this autobiographical journey of one family as they explore their son’s love of all things Disney, theater and their queer identity. Themes of pop culture love and self-discovery are woven through this Olivier-nominated one-person play. The action centers on Madge at age 12 as they create a Disney parade in their house for their grandmother. Madge, who is non-binary, has appeared in London productions of Mary Poppins, Oliver! and Les Miz.

Casting Doubt:: Obie and Lortel winner Quincy Tyler Bernstine (The Vibrator Play, Ruined) and Drama Desk and Lortel nominee Zoe Kazan (Love, Love, Love, “Revolutionary Road”) will join Tyne Daly and Liev Schreiber in the upcoming Roundabout Theater Company revival of John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt: A Parable. Definite dates have also been announced. Previews begin Feb. 2, 2024 with an opening set for Feb. 29 for a limited run at the American Airlines Theater through April 14.

Tidbits:
Both Purlie Victorious and Jaja’s African Hair Braiding have extended their limited runs. Purlie will now play through Feb.4 at the Music Box and Jaja continued until Nov. 19 at the Samuel Friedman…Brooke Adams (Lend Me a Tenor, The Heidi Chronicles) replaces Jobeth Williams in Madwomen of the West, scheduled to open Dec. 11 at the Actors Temple Theater….Scott Bakula (“NCIS New Orleans,” “Quantum Leap,” Romance Romance) will headline a new musical, The Connector, at MCC Theater, previewing Jan. 12 and opening Feb. 6. The tuner about a rivalry at a 1990s newspaper features music and lyrics by Tony winner Jason Robert Brown (Parade, The Last 5 Years) and a book by Jonathan Marc Sherman (Women and Wallace, Clive)….Shucked will close at the Nederlander Theater on Jan. 14, 2024 after 28 previews and 327 regular performances….Here We Are, the final Sondheim musical, playing now in previews Off-Broadway at the Shed, has not invited nominating committees for either the Drama Desks or the Outer Critics Circle Awards and therefore has been deemed ineligible for those annual accolades. The musical with book by David Ives based on two Luis Buñuel films, has extended its run to Jan. 21, 2024.

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2023-24 Broadway and Off-Broadway Calendar
Oct. 22–Here We Are (The Shed Griffin Theater)
Oct. 26–Arms and the Man (Gingold Theatrical Group)
Oct. 29–Translations (Irish Repertory Theater)
Oct. 29–Stereophonic (Playwrights Horizons)
Oct. 30–I Can Get It for You Wholesale (CSC)
Oct. 31–Merry Me (NYTW)
Nov. 1–Poor Yella Rednecks (MTC/City Center Stage I)
Nov. 2–I Need That (Roundabout/AA)
Nov. 2–Sabbath’s Theater (New Group/Signature Theater)
Nov. 4–Waiting for Godot (TFANA/Polonsky Center)
Nov. 12–Scene Partners (Vineyard Theater)
Nov. 13–Harmony (Barrymore)
Nov. 13–Danny and the Deep Blue Sea (Lortel)
Nov. 13–Walk on Through: Confessions of a Museum Guide (MCC Theater)
Nov. 16–Monty Python’s Spamalot (St. James)
Nov. 19–Hell’s Kitchen (Public)
Nov. 20–The Gardens of Anuncia (LCT/Mitzi Newhouse)

Nov. 24–Lone Star (Ruth Stage/Theater Row)
Nov. 30–Spain (Second Stage/Terry Kiser)
Nov.–Sad Boys in Harpy Land; Amusements; School Pictures (solo shows performed in repertory at Playwrights Horizons)

Winter 2023-24
Dec. 5–Manhatta (Public)
Dec. 10–How To Dance in Ohio (Belasco)
Dec. 11–Madwomen of the West (Actors Temple)
Dec. 12–Buena Vista Social Club (Atlantic Theater Company/Linda Gross)
Dec. 17–The Night of the Iguana (La Femme Theater Prods./Signature Center)
Dec. 18–Appropriate (Second Stage/Hayes)
Jan. 9–Prayer for the French Republic (MTC/Friedman)
Jan. 17–Public Obscenities (previews begin; opening TBA) (TFANA/Polonsky Center)
Jan. 21–Aristocrats (IRT)
Jan. 28–Days of Wine and Roses (Studio 54)
Feb. 6–The Connector (MCC)
Feb. 8–Russian Troll Farm: A Workplace Comedy (Vineyard Theater)
Feb. 21–Teeth (previews begin; opening TBA) (Playwrights Horizons)
Feb. 26–Pericles (previews begin; opening TBA) (CSC)
Feb. 29–Doubt: A Parable (Roundabout/AA)
Feb.–The Ally (Public)
TBA–Brooklyn Laundry (MTC/City Center Stage I)
TBA–An Enemy of the People
TBA–I Love You So Much I Could Die (NYTW)
TBA–The Seven Year Disappear (The New Group/Signature Center)

Spring 2024
March 12–My Son’s a Queer (But What Can You Do?) (Lyceum)
March 14–The Notebook (Schoenfeld)
March 19–Fish (previews begin; opening TBA) (Keen Co./Theater Five) 
March 21–Water for Elephants (Imperial)
March 24–Philadelphia, Here I Come (IRT)
March–Sally and Tom (Public)
April 2–Mary Jane (previews begin; opening TBA) (MTC/Friedman) 
April 5–Macbeth (an undoing) (TFANA/Polonsky Center)
April 11–The Outsiders (Jacobs)
April 12–Staff Meal (previews begin; opening TBA) (Playwrights Horizons)
April 17–The Wiz (Marquis)
April 18—Suffs (Music Box)
April 24–Uncle Vanya (LCT/Vivian Beaumont)
April 25–Mother Play (Second Stage/Hayes)
April–Jordans (Public)
May 2–Wine in the Wilderness (previews begin; opening TBA) (CSC)
June–Cats (Perelman Performing Arts Center)
TBA–All of Me (The New Group/Signature Center)
TBA–Cabaret (August Wilson)
TBA–Here There Are Blueberries (NYTW)
TBA–Home (Roundabout/AA)
TBA–Jonah (Roundabout/Laura Pels)
TBA–Lempicka

Fall 2024
King Lear (Kenneth Branagh Theater Company/The Shed)

2024-25
Smash

Spring 2025
Show Boat (Target Margin/NYU Skirball)

Future–Ain’t Supposed to Die a Natural Death; Beaches the Musical; Black Orpheus; BOOP! The Betty Boop Musical; Come Fall in Love–The DDLJ Musical; Death Becomes Her; The Devil Wears Prada; Ella: An American Miracle; Everybody’s Talking About Jamie; Frida, the Musical; Game of Thrones; The Great Gatsby; The Griswolds’ Broadway Vacation; High Noon; Imitation of Life; Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat; The Karate Kid; La La Land; Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil; The Mousetrap; Nancy Drew and the Mystery at Spotlight Manor; Our Town; Pal Joey; Rear Window; The Nanny; The Normal Heart/The Destiny of Me; The Secret Garden; Sing Street; Soul Train; What a Wonderful World; The Who’s Tommy; Working Girl.

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2023-24 Broadway Season Breakdown:
New Plays:
The Cottage
Grey House
I Need That
Jaja’s African Hair Braiding
Mother Play
Prayer for the French Republic
The Shark Is Broken

New Musicals:
Back to the Future
Days of Wine and Roses
Harmony
How to Dance in Ohio
Lempicka
The Notebook
Once Upon a One More Time
The Outsiders
Water for Elephants

Play Revivals:
Appropriate
Doubt: A Parable
An Enemy of the People
Home
Mary Jane
Purlie Victorious
Uncle Vanya

Musical Revivals:
Cabaret
Gutenberg! The Musical
Here Lies Love
Merrily We Roll Along
Monty Python’s Spamalot
The Wiz

Solos/Specialties:
Alex Edelman: Just for Us
Melissa Etheridge: My Window

My Son’s a Queer (But What Can You Do?)

[END]

Image: 
Writer: 
David Sheward
Publication Credit: 
This article was first published in Theaterlife.com and CulturalDaily.com, 10/23.
Date: 
October 2023