What’s in a name?
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson briefly ditched the black robes and drama of the Supreme Court and made history with her Saturday night debut on Broadway in the musical “& Juliet,” a queer reimagining of William Shakespeare’s classic “Romeo & Juliet.”
Jackson, who told members of the Senate during her 2022 confirmation that she can’t define what is a woman because she’s not a biologist, portrayed Queen Mab — described as a “she/her” character on a production poster — during her brief Broadway stint on Saturday.
The 54-year-old Supreme Court justice took the one-time, walk-on role in the sold-out musical that had first premiered in 2019 — which had two scenes crafted for her specifically to fulfill a lifelong dream of making it to Broadway.
“I just also think it’s very important to remind people that justices are human beings, that we have dreams, and that we are public servants,” Jackson reflected to “CBS Mornings” prior to the performance.
“I guess this moment reinforces for me that anything is possible.”
“& Juliet” explores the world of “Romeo & Juliet” in which Juliet didn’t kill herself after discovering her star-crossed lover Romeo dead from suicide at the end of tragic play.
From there, Juliet seeks love again and heads to Paris with a nonbinary character — only to later get tangled up in a love triangle.
“Female empowerment,” Jackson was seen bellowing out onstage in a video posted to social media on the musical’s X account. “Sick!”
The production team released a behind-the-scenes video also showing Jackson going over lines and practicing her choreography.
“I did it! I made it to Broadway,” Jackson exulted at the end.
While preparing for her Broadway debut, Jackson told CBS News, “I feel very much in my element.”
“I just always loved theater and I’ve felt very comfortable onstage,” she reflected. “I was always performing from when I was very young. It felt like the theater people were my people.”
The liberal Supreme Court justice hailed the play as a “wonderful story of female empowerment and women’s ability to do what they want to do” and said she had plenty of “fun” in process.
Last Thursday, the high court wrapped up its last set of oral arguments for the year and will commence arguments again next month.
Jackson had been a theater junkie growing up, having taken drama classes at Harvard University alongside actor Matt Damon.
In her memoir “Lovely One,” which hit bookshelves earlier this year, Jackson reflected on how she applied to the Ivy League school in part to fulfill her lifelong dream of becoming the “first, Black female justice to take the Broadway stage.”
“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,” wrote in the book.
During a tour to promote her book, Jackson broke out into singing a few times, and performed several lines from “Schoolhouse Rock” and other plays this past fall to demonstrate her “unabashed love of theater.”
Following her cameo, Jackson mingled with some of the audience.
Jackson was appointed to the high court in 2022 after having been nominated by President Biden to succeed former Justice Stephen Breyer. She is one of the three liberal justices on the high bench.
