On Sept. 30, the musical “Suffs” celebrated the release of the CD of its original cast album at the Public Theater. The musical’s Tony Award-winning composer-lyricist and book writer, Shaina Taub, and fellow cast members sang two songs from the show’s Broadway score as well as one song that was cut between the Off-Broadway run at the Public and its Main Stem transfer.
Following the performance, Taub chatted with Broadway News executive editor Ruthie Fierberg to discuss the intricacies of her score as well as the album recording process. “Suffs” opened on April 18 at the Music Box Theatre, where it continues its run. The musical was nominated for six Tonys, including Best Musical.
Below are excerpts from the conversation.
Broadway News: I want to start by talking to you about one of the songs we just heard, “Great American B*tch,” a drinking song. I hear that you love writing drinking songs. How do you define a drinking song musically and what makes you feel comfortable in that space?
Shaina Taub: That’s a great question. It’s ironic. I really don’t drink, but I do love a drinking song. But yes, to me, what defines it musically is like a repeatable hook phrase that a group that does not necessarily have experience singing can easily join in. You know what I mean? That is vocally tangible enough that you can suspend your disbelief that a group of people drinking that aren’t Broadway actors but are the characters you’re watching can join in. It has a little bit of a diegetic quality to a song that is naturally occurring in the show as a song. It’s often in that big three-quarter-time kind of vibe, which can feel nice and simple. Harmonically, I love to be adventurous, but it’s also nice to just sit in something where the music isn’t doing as much of the hard work.
Where the repetition actually lends itself to people joining in.
Taub: Exactly.
It feels very Jewish to me, honestly.
Taub: I agree, I agree.
All the nai nai nais that we have and anybody who goes to Shabbat services will know. The scene that leads into it is about Doris being called a b*tch — in the negative way — from an onlooker at the march. Where did the title come from? Because that plot point was in the show [at the Public] but the song wasn’t.
Taub: There was a little seed of a song in a larger song sequence. The same group of suffs sang the song that was [started with] Alice: “Here’s to the boys in my class who threw rocks in my face when I made higher grades.” We all sang a little ode to a man in the character’s life who had put them down in some way, and it was like, “Thank you so much to [those men] because we would not be here without them.” It was less comedic, but it had the guts of the idea. But I knew I needed — what makes me love a song is just that pithy phrase that I can hold on to and grab with both hands. So I knew the underlying event of reclaiming something [would work]. I was like, what is just a nice evergreen insult for a woman? [laughs] I didn’t want it to feel too old, but I didn’t want it to feel too contemporary. And I was like, “bitch.”
But what makes you put “Great American” in front of it?
Taub: Well, I kind of like the idea of idiomatically using the phrase “American” at different times in the show to be a strategic usage for the suffs. So in [the song] “Let Mother Vote,” Carrie’s final line is “Let your All-American mother vote,” and the word American can be coded in a variety of ways. I think there, Carrie is strategically coding it to mean white, upper-middle-class, wealthy. So it is excited me to use the word American at different junctures throughout the show. Wilson later says “issues affecting all Americans.” I wanted him to have that be a thread. And so that was the second piece. And then I love the Great American novel.
