O
ver the past two months,
producer Rachel Sussman
opened Suffs the Musical on
Broadway, got married, had
two baby showers, became
the kvelling mother of an adorable son,
hosted his bris and attended the 77th
Annual Tony Awards where Suffs was
nominated for six Tonys and won two.
“It’s been really nuts. People kept
asking me, ‘How are you doing it all
at once?’ and I just reply that ‘I am.’
That’s how the chips fell, but I wouldn’t
recommend it,” joked Sussman, who
grew up in Bloomfield Township and is
adding a move to Brooklyn next month
to the fast-paced mix.
Sussman has had a banner year with
three of the shows she’s produced,
including Suffs, having sell-out runs on
Broadway. Sussman won her first Tony,
Drama Desk and OCC Award last June
for Parade (Best Revival of a Musical),
which starred her brother-in-law Ben
Platt. Next was Alex Edelman’s Just for
Us, which was filmed live and is now
streaming on HBO. Edelman received
a Special Tony at this year’s awards
for his one-man comedy show about
Jewish identity and antisemitism.
Edelman first met Sussman through
their mutual friend, Tony Award-
winning composer Benj Pasek, at
the height of the pandemic back in
March 2020. Edelman and Pasek were
executive producers and writers of
Saturday Night Seder, a virtual program of
comedy, music and sketches. Edelman
and Pasek brought Sussman on as a
co-producer for the grassroots effort
that raised more than $3.5 million
for the CDC Foundation COVID-19
Emergency Response Fund.
Now, as lead producers of Suffs,
Sussman and Jill Furman brought on
Hillary Rodham Clinton and Nobel
Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai to be
co-producers and ambassadors of the
show.
“I had the time of my life at the Tony
Awards introducing a song from Suffs,
”
Clinton wrote in a recent guest essay
for the New York Times.
As a special homage to Suffs, Clinton
wore an elegant caftan, designed in
suffragist white and gold, to the Tony
Awards ceremony. Clinton concluded
Shaina Taub, who won two Tonys for
Best Book and Best Original Score for
Suffs, also stars as suffragist Alice Paul.
ARTS&LIFE
THEATER
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