Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her First Public Appearance Since Cancer Surgery — to See an RBG Musical
On Monday night Ruth Bader Ginsburg made her first public appearance since successfully undergoing cancer surgery in late December — fittingly attending a musical about her life.
The 85-year-old Supreme Court Justice was seen at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, the Washington Post reported, where her daughter-in-law, singer Patrice Michaels, was performing her one-woman show, Notorious RBG in Song, for a crowd of D.C.-area high school students brought in by the National Constitution Center.
Michaels, a renowned soprano, composed the show. Ginsburg’s son and Michaels’ husband, James, produced the musical and released the cast recording on his record label, Cedille Records.
According to the Post, Ginsburg went mostly unnoticed at Monday’s event — sitting in the back of the performance and slipping out right after it ended.
Ginsburg, after previously surviving colon and pancreatic cancer, had to undergo surgery on Dec. 21 in Manhattan to remove two cancerous nodules in her lungs, which were found after a fall that broke three of her ribs.
Since leaving the hospital on Christmas Day, Ginsburg has been recovering at home where she continues to work on cases before the Supreme Court through briefs and transcripts of the oral arguments, according to a spokeswoman in January.
Her recuperation is going well, the spokeswoman added. The court previously said that, following her lung surgery, she was cancer free.
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Meanwhile, Notorious RBG in Song is only one of the many pieces of art telling Ginsburg’s story.
Last year, the Brooklyn-born justice’s life was seen on screen in two films: On the Basis of Sex, a biopic that starred actress Felicity Jones as Ginsburg, and RBG, a documentary which features interviews with her, her family and her friends.
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In January, the latter was nominated for an Academy Award for best documentary. The film’s directors, Betsy West and Julie Cohen, told PEOPLE in a statement that they spoke with Ginsburg by phone after the nod was announced.
“We were excited to be the ones to give Justice Ginsburg the good news that RBG has been nominated for Best Documentary,” they said.“She congratulated us and said the nomination was ‘eminently well-deserved.’”
From their conversation, they said Ginsburg sounded “strong and cheerful.” Indefatigable even in her ninth decade, she told them “she is writing opinions and continuing to stay on top of work.”
