(Julianna Frieman, Headline USA) U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson made her Broadway debut in the musical & Juliet, which presents a girl-power spin to the classic Shakespearean tragedy Romeo and Juliet.
Jackson, appointed by President Joe Biden as the first black woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, fulfilled her greatest “fantasy” by unleashing her inner theatre kid in a one-night-only walk-on role at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre, according to Playbill.
WHAT? Supreme Court Justice Kentanji Brown Jackson heads to Broadway to star in a queer 'Romeo and Juliet' play.pic.twitter.com/bNqG0fuBKF
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) December 16, 2024
About her Broadway appearance, Jackson said, “I think that it means means that anything is possible.”
Jackson, who was notably shorter in stature than the rest of the cast, exclaimed, “Female empowerment—sick!” to the cheers of an energized audience in video posted on the official & Juliet Instagram account.
She wore a pastel green costume that appeared to belong in another era.
“I like it too! I think what I like about it is that I am having a very strongly negative reaction to it. Like I hate it. Which makes me think it must be brilliant,” Jackson said in the video montage of her guest role.
Supreme Court Justice Kentaji Brown Jackson made her “Broadway debut” this past weekend.
It’s probably best she takes this up full-time and leaves the bench. pic.twitter.com/mEZqAbAwwg
— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) December 16, 2024
The Supreme Court justice recited her lines in an animated, quirky tone of voice most recognizable in Disney characters.
She pranced around on stage with exaggerated movements and took a bow in one clip as a Broadway rendition of Justin Timberlake’s “Can’t Stop the Feeling” began to play.
“Justice served,” the caption of the & Juliet video read.
In her memoir Lovely One, Jackson declared her dream to become the first black female Supreme Court justice to appear on Broadway, Playbill noted.
She was an avid lover of theatre and wrote about it while applying to Harvard University.
“I, a Miami girl from a modest background with an unabashed love of theatre, 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 wrote in the book released in September. “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.’”
& Juliet “flips the script on the greatest love story ever told,” according to the musical’s official website.
The show, created by Swedish songwriter and producer Max Martin, twists Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet into a queer narrative exploring what would have happened if Juliet decided against committing suicide, according to the Gay Times.
The musical features other pop songs including Kelly Clarkson’s “Since U Been Gone,” Brittany Spears’ “…Baby One More Time” and Katy Perry’s “Roar,” according to its website.
Julianna Frieman is a freelance writer published by the Daily Caller, Headline USA, The Federalist, and The American Spectator. Follow her on Twitter at @JuliannaFrieman.
