Ruth Bader Ginsburg will make her opera debut — in a non-singing role

The longtime opera enthusiast will be making a one-night appearance as the Duchess of Krakenthorp role in Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti’s “Daughter of the Regiment.” The Washington National Opera announced the justice would make her opera debut in its staging of the show at the Kennedy Center Nov. 12.

While the duchess is a non-singing role, “the high-comedy antics … of the Duchess of Krakenthorp often steal the show,” the Opera said in a statement.

The script will receive some slight modifications to wink at Ginsburg’s day job. For example, after the duchess observes that the best leaders of the House of Krakenthorp have been “persons with open but not empty minds, individuals willing to listen and learn,” she looks at the audience meaningfully, and asks, “Is it any wonder that the most valorous members … have been women?”

The character goes on to list the qualifications for admission to the House of Krakenthorp, which sound eerily like those required of a Supreme Court justice — they “must possess the fortitude to undergo intense scrutiny” and have a “character beyond reproach.”

While this will be Ginsburg’s official opera debut, the 83-year-old has made a handful of cameos over the years. She and the late Justice Antonin Scalia appeared as extras in a party scene of Richard Strauss’ “Ariadneauf Naxos” in 2009, and she also was an extra in “Ariadne auf Naxos” in 1994 and in Johann Strauss II’s “Die Fledermaus” in 2003, according to the Washington National Opera.

The Washington National Opera initially asked Ginsburg to play the duchess in all eight performances at the Kennedy Center this fall, but the justice responded that she could not have “a day job and a night job.”

Regardless, even a one-night appearance by the liberal justice has provided a boost for the opera business.

“We definitely sold a lot of tickets today after our announcement,” Washington National Opera spokesperson Michael Solomon told Reuters.