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Lets go ahead and address the Lin-Manuelephant in the room.
This painful fact takes central importance inSuffs, where, playing the great activists Ida B.
But, as Ida and Alice and the rest would probably advise, onward.
At least the story, artistically speaking, has a good ending.
The show is smart, witty, tuneful, and teeming with mighty performances.
The refrain that Taubs characters hurl at each other in moments of strife Why are you fighting me?
I am not the enemy!
feels so sharply familiar it makes you wince.
But for all its seriousness,Suffsis full of nerve and spark.
When actors really believe in what theyre doing, it tends to show.
Belief in a vital cause is, after all, the blood pumping through the plays heart.
Meanwhile, the hard-right bulldozer rolls on, happy to welcome aboard a multiplicity of fears and hatreds.
Its practically vaudevillian, and its an ingenious way to kick things off.
Carrie will be with us for the whole ride and will quickly prove no mere Establishment shill.
That frustrated kid is Taubs Alice Paul, and she has no time for sweetness.
I dont want to follow in old footsteps, she sings, fervent and furrow-browed.
Wells blows in like a righteous storm.
/ Thats not leadership, Alice / Its cowardice.
But Ida has her own foil in her friend Mary Church Terrell.
Where Ida is hard and dogged, Mary is gracious; where Ida pushes, Mary coaxes.
Dont you resent that youre a prop they trot out at events?
Ida sings as Mary prepares to speak at a NAWSA convention.
Taub has made room for nuance, and for the corresponding ache it almost always brings.
But shes also made room for humor.
Im a Great American Bitch!
Its true that Taubs music-hall streak can sometimes stretch a degree or two too far into shtick.
Thats because its not an ending, and there isnt one in sight.
I hope many do.Grenfellis meticulously constructed, searingly informative, and both patient and confident in its theatrical simplicity.
The list goes on and, crucially, the guilt and the underlying greed is global.
The classification of REYNOBOND PE cassette cladding following the test this morning is … Grenfellis a performance, but its also an action.
It ends less like a play than a peaceful protest, and its part of an ongoing campaign.
Suffsis at the Music Box Theatre.Grenfellis at St. Anns Warehouse through May 12.
