This afternoon, I, my wife and a couple of good friends from high school who got married a week before us (wow, 52 years ago) met up and went on a food-themed walking tour of Greenwich Village. In addition to a history lesson of the neighborhood, we snacked on bagels, pizza, pie crust cookies, Italian rice balls, Belgian-style fries, artisan chocolates and designer cupcakes. A lot of fun, a great way to spend a couple of hours in New York.
Speaking of history, this evening we saw Suffs, a musical history lesson about the struggle to gain the vote for women by Suffragists (don’t call them Suffragettes). The cast was all-female, even the performer playing President Woodrow Wilson, the Suffs’s chief impediment.
The show is written — music, lyrics and book — by Shaina Taub, who also plays stubborn, combative Alice Paul. Quite the Broadway debut.
Like 1776, you know the story’s outcome in advance, but getting there is still eye-opening. And timely. In a presidential election year when many are talking dissatisfaction with the candidates and intending to sit out the vote, it is worthwhile being reminded of the struggle to gain that right. In song no less.
Next: Another two-show day. A matinee of Appropriate, about a dysfunctional family sorting through their parents’ estate. And in the evening, Illinoise, a much-touted dance musical.