Our Justice is a Theater Kid

I was in the audience last night to witness Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson's dream come true. In her Harvard college essay, she had expressed her goal of becoming "the first Black female Supreme Court Justice to appear on a Broadway stage" (Lovely One, page 103). She attained the first part of that dream when she was appointed to the Supreme Court on June 13, 2022. And last night, in a one-night-only walk on part in the musical "&Juliet," she got to experience the second part of that dream. In a part written expressly for her, she performed to a full house that thundered with applause and cheers when she appeared and delivered her lines, even singing one song with the cast. She was brilliant and clearly enjoying herself. "She's just a Theater Kid like us," one of the lead players said, introducing her. As she shares in her memoir, theater is her road not taken. She appeared in plays and musicals throughout her college career, an engagement with stagecraft that she necessarily paused when she chose the Law. Last night that long hiatus came to an end.

"&Juliet" re-imagines Shakespeare's famous tragedy, exploring what might transpire if on awakening from her sleep potion and finding Romeo dead, Juliet decided not to kill herself, too, and instead went on with her life. It was a funny, inclusive, empowering feminist vision of an alternate ending to the bard's play. My friend Lisa came with me to the show, as my usual Broadway buddy, my daughter, is off exploring Quebec City this weekend with her husband. I was just as starstruck as everyone else when the Justice appeared. And the Theater Kid crushed it.

Watching the performance, I felt a secret thrill that our Justice has these other dimensions to her persona, that she could replenish her spirit from what must be a brutal day job with an interlude of the purest joy. When she shared her goal of one day appearing on a Broadway stage in her book, I was sure someone would read it who could make that dream come true. And last evening at the Stephen Sondheim Theater, she acted her heart out, and she was glorious.