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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