Ginsburg gets opera role, and it's not a cameo appearance
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. ABA Journal file photo by Sam Kittner.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is getting a chance to take her love of opera to a whole new level.
She has a one-night role as the Duchess of Krakenthorp in the opera The Daughter of the Regiment at Washington, D.C.’s Kennedy Center, NPR reports. Though the character does not sing, she often steals the show, according to the Washington National Opera.
The WNO had asked Ginsburg to take on the role for all eight opera performances, but she said she doesn’t have the time. She will appear on opening night only, which is Nov. 12.
Some of the lines have been changed for Ginsburg’s performance, and they appear to include a nod to views and position. When she ticks off the qualification for admission to the House of Krakenthorp, they “sound suspiciously like the qualifications for being a Supreme Court justice,” the article reports. Ginsburg says that the candidates “must possess the fortitude to undergo intense scrutiny,” for example.
At another point the duchess says the best leaders of the House of Krakenthorp have been “persons with open but not empty minds, individuals willing to listen and learn.” Ginsburg then looks at the audience and asks, “Is it any wonder that the most valorous members … have been women?”
