Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson is set to make history with her Broadway debut on Saturday night.
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On Monday, producers revealed that the first Black female Supreme Court Justice will make history once again by becoming the first Justice to appear on Broadway. Per Entertainment Weekly, she is set to take on a special walk-on role in the acclaimed musical & Juliet.
The special one-night-only performance will take place Dec. 14 at the Stephen Sondheim Theater. Afterwards, there will be a post-show talkback session with the audience.
However, Jackson’s acting debut may not be as random as it sounds.
In her new memoir, Lovely One, Jackson shared that performing on Broadway has always been one of her biggest dreams.
“I, a Miami girl from a modest background with an unabashed love of theater, dreamed of one day ascending to the highest court in the land—and I had said so in one of my supplemental application essays,” Jackson penned. “I expressed that I wished to attend Harvard as I believed it might help me ‘to fulfill my fantasy of becoming the first Black, female Supreme Court justice to appear on a Broadway stage.’”
Ketanji Brown Jackson Isn’t the First Supreme Court Justice to Take the Stage
Jackson will be the first Supreme Court justice to make an appearance on Broadway. However, other justices have previously taken to the stage.
In 2016, the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg made a memorable one-night appearance as the Duchess of Krakenthorp in the Washington National Opera’s production of The Daughter of the Regiment.
& Juliet is a jukebox Broadway musical that offers a fresh twist on Shakespeare’s classic, Romeo & Juliet. It reimagines Juliet’s story, envisioning what might have happened if she had survived the tragic ending (… spoiler). The show includes hits from pop artists like Katy Perry, Britney Spears, Bon Jovi, Ariana Grande, Kelly Clarkson, the Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC, and more.
The current Broadway cast of & Juliet features Maya Boyd as Juliet, Tony Award-winner Paulo Szot as Lance, Alison Luff as Anne, Drew Gehling as Shakespeare, Liam Pearce as Romeo, Michael Iván Carrier as May, Jeannette Bayardelle as Angélique, and Nathan Levy as François.