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Just In Time starring Jonathan Groff (Circle in the Square Theatre, Broadway) - ★★★★ REVIEW
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- [00:00]
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- [00:27]
Mickey Jo
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So I was about to open this with a comedy bit in which I said the Broadway production of Just in Time is scheduled to close at the end of the summer. So my review is arriving just in time. But it turns out that's not correct whatsoever because it's currently booking through January 2026 and I had no idea. Are they planning at some point to recast Jonathan Groff? Can they recast Jonathan Groff? I don't think they can recast Jonathan Groff and in this review I will explain why. Oh my God. Hey, welcome back to my theatre themed YouTube channel. Or hello to you if you are listening to this review on podcast platforms. My name is Mickey Jo and I am obsessed with all things theatre. I'm a professional theatre critic here on social media. I'm based in the UK but I frequently fly across the Atlantic and boy are my arms tired. I'm joking. I'm filming this review at midnight. All of me is tired so I make frequent trips to go see as many Broadway shows as possible. Very often they are as wonderful as I am hoping that they will be. Just occasionally I find that I'm disappointed and sometimes a show that I'm not expecting that much from turns out to be delightful. And that was the case this season with the Bobby Darren jukebox bio musical Just In Time and you know, implicit within the concept of what this was, even with Tony Award winner Jonathan Groff in the leading role, I I didn't have hugely high hopes that this was going to be something that would resonate with me very personally. I am increasingly not a huge fan of the bio musical sub genre of the jukebox musical, I. E. The shows in which an artist or band's story, their lives, their careers are told in a musical utilizing their own back catalogue and the songs of their contemporaries. Think about Jersey Boys as one of the most famous examples. Also beautiful, the Carole King musical or the Cher show, and an absolute slew of more recent examples like MJ and the Drifter's Girl and Ain't Too Proud and if anything, probably too many of them in recent years. Especially because it seems as though the Jukebox musical isn't necessarily as much a guaranteed hit as it used to be, either in the West End or on Broadway. And so it seemed a little bit puzzling then for a Bobby Darin jukebox musical, of all things, to be arriving on Broadway, especially alongside rumors of the Sinatra musical which has been in development starring Matt Doyle, planning to make its way to New York. And not that Bobby Darren wasn't a very successful entertainer and not that he doesn't have, you know, a worthy theatrically capable songbook, but people just weren't really sure what the impetus behind this theatrical project was. And yet the they soon enough found out because when this show began previews, I began to hear really charming, really delightful things and it turns out to just be a crowd pleasing gem that actually has more to say than you might be expecting. And I'm going to let you know more about it today. This is going to be my full review of Just in Time, currently on Broadway, starring Mr. Jonathan Groff, a show that got Tony Award nominations this season. But as always, I'm very intrigued to know as well as my own thoughts what you thought about it. If you've seen Just in Time at the Circle in the Square Theatre on Broadway, let us all know what you thought of the show in the comments section down below. And as always, if you are interested in seeing or hearing more of my theatre reviews, both from Broadway and also from the West End, make sure that you're subscribed right here on YouTube. Turn on those notifications so you don't miss any of my upcoming videos or go follow me on podcast platforms or other social media apps. In the meantime, here are my thoughts about Just In Time. So like I said, the Jukebox Bio musical is a concept that we have seen a few times now. And in new stuff that is emerging, that is transferring, that is being workshopped, I'm seeing more and more potentially obscure artists who have interesting enough but fairly similar life stories, you know, emerging from challenging backgrounds. But the music guiding them through it and showing an early aptitude and musical skill and then falling upon hard times financially, never do they ever manage their money. Well, looking at you, the Jersey Boys, looking at you, the Osmonds. But the key issue I so often find with all of them is that they try and instill a sense of tension at these turning points, at these moments of challenge for the group, for the artist. And it's like, oh, are they going to make it? Are they really going to achieve success? And it's like, well, I've walked into a theater to see a show titled after one of their very famous records with playbills with, you know, a picture of their face and their name on it. So I dare say that they are in fact, yes, going to be successful and they are going to be remembered. And so you don't get any of that natural because we already know where this story is going. And so it's really interesting for something like just in time to start off by being like, we all know where we are, we all know why we're here. Let us tell you something you might not have known about Bobby Darren. Let us tell you the interesting details of his life and let that be so compelling that it leads the way through what is perhaps still a predictable story, but one with a more strikingly original impetus and also a fascinating framing device. We have to talk about this before we talk about absolutely anything else. So Jonathan Groff has been developing this show as Bobby Darren and he emerges on stage in this glorious setting that is sort of reconfigured, if you don't know. The Circle in the Square Theatre is one of Broadway's most intimate auditoria. It also has a unique configuration that can allow it to present thrust performances rather than traditional end on proscenium or in the round performances. And with this one we have a little stage set up with a multi piece jazz and swing band on it, made to look like a fairly traditional classic retro performance stage with lots of blue ruched curtain and lovely sort of staging elements. And there is cabaret seating on the flat floor in front of that that the performers move through, stand on and even sit amongst during the performance. They emerge out the other side and they also appear in the audience and they interact with the audience, including Mr. Jonathan Groff, who warns early on that we may get spat on. And that's because he's not just playing Bobby Darin, he is introducing himself as Jonathan Groff. That's perhaps the craziest part of the first few minutes of this show is that he arrives as Jonathan. This is why I have no idea if the show can go on, to have a further life without him without being majorly rewritten or are people going to join this show and play Jonathan Groff? Are they going to recast him? And it's like next week, like Derek Klenner as Jonathan Groff as Bobby Darren. I have no idea how this is going to work because there's so much in those early moments of the script in which Jonathan talks about himself and talks about his background and the specific state in which he was raised and talks about his well known propensity to be a moist man on stage and to spit over his co stars and members of the audience and listen, we should all be so lucky. That definitely makes it sound like I'm into that. I'm not explicitly. I just think it's Tony Award winning spittle and you know, you could, we could all be doing worse. But the upshot of all of this is he talks about the connection that he has found to the life that Bobby Darin lived. And on the face of it, there isn't an overwhelming amount of similarity between the two of them. But Jonathan talks about, he talks briefly about romantic struggles that he has had in pursuit of performance and the notion that singing and entertaining and performing is all he's ever really been able to do successfully. And how there's a lot of parallels with Bobby Darin's life there. And though it's meant different things for each of them, the drive to perform seems to be the real guiding light in each of their lives. And Jonathan fascinatingly lets the audience in on that reality ahead of the performance and ahead of taking on the role of Bobby Darin, which is a really charming and sweet and I think quite effective way to begin about this show. Normally we would save that kind of collapsing of the fourth wall until the end when we applaud Mr. Jonathan Groff for playing Bobby Darren. But he comes out, acknowledges what we all already know and then says this is what the show is about to be, and this is why I care it. And I think that is captivatingly endearing, actually, and it feels also strikingly genuine. Like I said, I have no idea what happens in an understudy scenario or if it's going to be licensed. And the character of Jonathan Groff is written into the script, I'm not sure. But it is at the very least a hugely novel concept that brings a new idea to something that we have seen many times and that's the first way in which Just In Time really works. Now, I've talked a lot about their work. Let me tell you the names of these book writers. So the book for Just in Time, which is probably its most remarkable creative asset in terms of the material, is by Warren Late and Isaac Oliver, based on an original concept by one of the show's co producers, Ted Chapin, who you may know as a former chairman of the American Theatre Wing, as well as the current chairman, I believe, of the Rodgers and Hammerstein organization, certainly a giant within the American theatrical ecosystem, and evidently came up with the idea for Just In Time. Now, where it gets even more interesting is this is not just charming Jonathan Groff telling us that he cares about Bobby Darin. And we should too, here is the impetus that Bobby has as a character that is going to drive us through every single chapter of this musical. The reality for a young Bobby Darin is that he was a sickly hospitalized child. We get told, no sense of suspense here whatsoever, that he is going to die sort of tragically young. In fact, he died in the early 1970s at the age of just 37 years old. Only he's actually been expecting to die significantly younger because he found out when he was a child that because of issues with his heart, he couldn't necessarily expect to live past. I think it might even have been like the age of 16 or 20 around that point. So in his earliest scenes, he is characterized with an impatience and a determination and a zest for life and for performance and everything that he wants to do and that he wants to achieve and that he is impatient to achieve because I would say he doesn't know how much time he has. But he thinks he does know how much time he has, and it's not much time, hence the just in time of it all. Am I holding this upside down? Yes. Yes, I am. And these are also, I think, some of the key ingredients, certainly to some of the traditional theatrical male figures. I mean, so many of the shows in this Broadway season alone have been talking about Fame and death and fame and death. And here is one that is talking acutely about fame and about death at the same time. And, you know, that is such an interesting characterization for someone to be positive and buoyant in life because they're trying to swim as far out as possible before the tide starts dragging them back. And yet when he passes this point, this moment that he was told was the most he would ever be able to expect according to medical understanding, and he then, you know, is still alive and is still achieving then what happens next. And that comes with its own joy, but also its own crisis and its own uncertainty all at the same time. And we see all of that playing out for Mr. Bobby Darren. And there is sort of a frenzied, chaotic energy that begins to enter into his life and the decisions that he makes, coupled with certain revelations about his upbringing eventually coming to light. Now, he's not going through all of this alone. He, like in another musical this season, A Wonderful World, the Lewis Armstrong musical, which I will mention again in just a moment, we see his life often from the perspective of the various women who came into it. That is, the woman who raised him, the woman who he grew up knowing as a sister. That's all I'm going to say about that situation for now. As well as his young, almost sweetheart, Connie Francis, for whom he wrote a song, and the woman he would eventually go on to marry, the actress Sandra Dee, you may know of her name from Greece, you may recall Olivia Newton John saying goodbye to her loudly. And you may be curious at this point about the show's musical identity and how these songs are used. And for the most part, they are diegetic performances, which means that when a character is singing in this show, it's because they were actually singing in real life. It's because he was performing at a TV studio or at a club or writing a song or recording a song or pitching a song. And we hear a lot of the Bobby Darin classics. We see a great performance of Splish Splat, Splish Splash. Surprisingly difficult to say. We see a great performance of the hit songs Splish Splash. But we also, alongside the songs that he became very well known for and other jazz and swing standards that were in his repertoire, get a couple of performances from Sandra Dee and from Connie Francis as well. But we do also, like in so many of these biojug books, musicals get a couple of moments where the songs take on an extra layer of resonance for the characters who are singing them. And, you know, I've told you that it's creative and innovative and the framing is different and that they do things differently. There are still a lot of hallmarks of the traditional jukebox bio musical, and sometimes they're very charming, but they're also occasionally a little bit predictable at the same time, a lot of those sequences of like, how am I ever gonna write that amazing hit song? I just don't have the creativity right now. And then someone says something innocuous and he's like, wait a minute, did you say splish splash? And then it all starts to.
- [15:04]
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- [15:34]
Mickey Jo
Magically come together. And then you have, like, successful music montage. All of that stuff. We see a lot of that happening. We get some of those, like, through the years, numbers where things that are moving in a certain direction emotionally start to move increasingly more so in that direction. And there are a couple of moments and a couple of songs that strike me as having a slightly richer theatrical context than the one that they are allowed to achieve the way that they're realized in this show. And that's because very few of these numbers are allowed to really, you know, let their lyrics sing. But I was very curious about the circumstances of Mack the Knife from the Threepenny Opera turning into a Bobby Darin hit. And we really, like. We perform it fully enough. And there's a really fantastic arrangement of it for Gracie Lawrence and Erika Henriksen to sing together as a harmonized duet in the Curtain Call. That's honestly one of the best moments of the show. And it happens after the thing has already ended. But in terms of the actual backstory of how it came to him, it's a throwaway joke of a line. By the time that the plot is already in a lot of motion and we speed right past it. And I was curious about Bobby Darin going to see the Threepenny Opera and being like, yeah, that's something that I should do. I also think, for what it's worth, there's a lot of lyrical value in the song Just in Time that isn't necessarily utilized by the show. But ultimately the whole thing is extraordinarily charming. I mean it's just dazzlingly delightful. The whole thing is a light and bubbling glass of champagne. And that very possibly is exactly what you might want from a musical like this. Alex Timbers has directed the musical with such an evident understanding of what it needs to be and the specificity of its own charming and unique and sort of quirky theatrical identity. And just so many of the introductory moments just set us up for such smooth sailing thereafter. It is so well established as a piece of storytelling and you know, in all of its theatrical language and people being planted in the cabaret seating section and the way that Jonathan comes down to us and moves amongst us, it's so, so inviting, it's so sort of pseudo flirtatious, it plays on all of his charms so, so perfectly. But there's also a real playfulness to the way that it's staged throughout. And even in its heavier moments, even in the sort of darker chapters of his life, there is still a levity to it and there is still this charm to it and this easy quality about the whole thing. And like I said, for a lot of audiences that might be what you want at the theatre and that might be, be all that you need. It doesn't need to be Shakespearean and it doesn't need to completely change the game on how we tell these kind of stories. It can offer a slightly new perspective. It can acknowledge that we all know what we know going into it and in doing so it can sort of mutually lower everyone's guard and we can find this surprising warmth of equality that's just really lovely. And it's also helped by brilliant, classy top tier work from a fantastic creative team. Derek McClane, set not just in the center of the space and on the playing space, but all around. The auditorium looks just gorgeous. It is lit stunningly in this deep rich blue. The lighting having been designed by Justin Townsend. Catherine Zuber's period costumes look so gorgeous. All of Jonathan Groff's tearaway and quick change suits are fantastic. Peter Helenski's sound design is wonderful. So are the arrangements for what It's Worth by Andrew Resnick. It feels like we are, are in this really classy jazz club. It feels, I'm not going to say immersive, but very atmospheric in that regard. Certainly if you book yourself one of those cabaret tables, you're going to have an incredibly special theatrical experience. And without laboring the point on the metatheatricality of it all, you have this character who only really knew how to live his life the way he wanted to on stage. You know, we come to find out that he lived and he died doing what he loved and what he was determined to do. And so this feels like the only appropriate setting in which to tell his story. It's right for other shows to disappear into more complex sets and to create an entire world out of those in, you know, different kind of theatrical space. But this one, you know, he can stay there. He can stay center stage in this jazz swing club, cabaret space environment, and that feels comfortable. Another of the most wonderful creative elements of this production is Shannon Lewis's choreography. Oh, it's so fun. It is just, I keep saying charming because everything about this show is charming and delightful and wonderful. But there is a joy to this choreography and not just the joy exuded by Jonathan Groff in performing it, but it's of the era and it's kitschy and it's cute and it's occasionally just a little sexy, but it's also campy and it's whimsical and it's fun. And there is such an energy and a pulse, very importantly, running through the entirety of this show. And I think it's meant to represent the vitality that Bobby Darin felt during his life and that determination and that drive to really live while he had the chance. And the way that the show invites us into that sensation and conveys that to us is through the dance of it all and through that irrepressible energy. I also mentioned the sound design in the arrangements, but I do want to talk specifically about the band who are doing just fantastic work. They get to be slightly involved in the show as well and they have a very close rapport with Jonathan as he is performing. They're absolutely fantastic. And I mentioned earlier I was going to invoke a little bit of a comparison with another of this season's jukebox bio musicals, A Wonderful World, the Louis Armstrong musical. Now this had a sadly short lived run at Studio 54 and James Monroe Iglehart starred as Louis Armstrong. Aside from his performance, the show was not well remembered by the Tony Awards. But I actually think that these two shows are fairly proximal in quality. The framing of the two has in some ways its differences, in many ways its similarities. And I think just in time with the decision to lower the fourth wall at the start of it with Jonathan introducing himself first is obviously a very unique quality for this show to have. But I think, think as charming and as joyous as Just in Time is, I found that similar kind of a joy in a Wonderful World. And it's interesting because I heard a lot of criticism of the way that the wives of Louis Armstrong were framed within A Wonderful World. Like they were just sort of like places that he moved between and that they weren't really allowed to have their own fully dimensional characters. I do feel that because we are so in Bobby Darin's perspective in Just In Time, that we do see all of the women in his life the way that he saw them. And they have very colorful personalities, particularly Connie Francis. And we also get to spend a lot of time with Sandra D as a character and we get a lot of insight into her emotions and her perspective on it all as well. But inevitably he is still emotionally and physically center stage of the narrative and they are always just sort of to one side. And there are only really two love interests in Just In Time versus the four in A Wonderful World. And I think that's only because Bobby Darin didn't live as long. If he had lived as long as Louis Armstrong, I think I think he'd have got there in terms of number of wives. I just have a feeling, and I think I'll be thinking about this show for a while and what it achieves in its subtlety because you know, it doesn't warrant a huge amount of theatrical over analysis. You can just go and have a lovely time and I can just tell you that the dance is great and it looks stylish and Jonathan's fantastic and it's just like I said, a glass of champagne, of a theatrical experience. But what it's really subtly doing beneath all of that is it's reminding us of the value of life and of this vitality and conveying to us the necessity and the brilliance of getting to go out and choose to live and celebrate your life and make the most of it as well. Which I think is a beautiful thing for a piece of theatre to be able to do for an audience. Finally. Then, as always, let me tell you about the brilliant performances. Starting of course with Mr. Jonathan Groff, the Tony Award winning star of the show as Bobby Darren. I almost would have given him the Tony Award this year myself. And I think.
- [24:26]
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- [24:56]
Mickey Jo
It's very possible he would have won for this performance, as stars often have in the past, on many occasions won for playing music artists in these bio musicals. Stephanie J. Block did and Jesse Mueller did, and John Lloyd Young, I believe, for Jersey Boys. If it weren't for the fact that Jonathan Hood won last year for playing Franklin Shepard in Merrily We Roll Along. But I think this is my favorite performance I've seen him give on stage. He offers everything of himself to this role. We have that immediate stunning emotional vulnerability from him at the beginning as he lets us know where he finds personal connection to this story and the place where him and Bobby Darren meet, not on a frivolous note, but on a very emotionally connected one. And what he's found there as an actor, which answered the question I'd had for a long time, which is why is Jonathan Groff developing this piece? What is in this for him when he's just done Sondheim, but thereafter he also gets to do what he is so good at doing on stage, which is the utterance, showmanship of it all. And combining his charm and this hugely endearing quality and this presence with the dancing, the joyous dancing, the wonderful, very skillful dancing and the absolute vocal command of all of these songs. And with a lot of these old school entertainers, it was about the singing and it was about the musical insight and the understanding and the ability to deliver the these swinging, crooning, fantastic songs, this absolutely classic, gorgeous music. But the prerequisite to it all was also this sort of suave showman quality that Jonathan Groff just has implicitly, this, I believe, is him at his very best. If you are any kind of a Jonathan Groff fan, you owe it to yourself to go and see him in this show. And it's not Sondheim and it's not Spring Awakening. And he has played weightier roles in the past and he will go on to to in the future. But I think sometimes not only because he speaks to us as himself at the beginning, but sometimes there is a little bit more proximity between a performer and their own personal brand and their own talent and personality and the character that they're playing on stage and it allows you to celebrate them even more so. But he's also not alone on stage and he is joined by a stellar supporting cast in particular four pretty terrific women. Let's start with Gracie Lawrence. Lawrence playing Connie Francis. I was familiar with the music of Connie Francis, not just the One that's gone TikTok viral recently, but I think I actually saw Connie Francis on a very old episode of the Muppet Show. I had no idea that this was her personality, that she was such a sort of Fanny Brice, funny Girl type. And Gracie Lawrence puts that across so well that I'm ready to personally produce a major revival of Funny Girl, despite us having had one all of five minutes ago. Starring Gracie Lawrence's Fanny Brice. If you've seen her in this show, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Not only is the vocal extraordinary, and it's a really great voice. Gracie Lawrence, as I understand it, comes from the pop world, but clearly has a lot of musical theater understanding. And there is a little bit of grit to her voice, but such power and such height to the range. It's perfect for, like, musical theater belting, but it doesn't sound immaculately polished and super trained the way that a lot of other voices do that have come through years and years of musical theater training. And that's nothing against the quality of her instrument. It just has retained this unique quality and characteristic and this gorgeous tone. I could listen to her sing all day. It's an absolutely stunning voice. But she combines all of that vocal talent, which you would expect for someone from a music industry background, with this brilliantly characterized performance that is. Is feisty, that is hilarious, that has sensitivity as well. I am so excited to see whatever she does next on stage. I think all of the award nominations that she got this season were so, so well deserved. It's a brilliant little firecracker performance that we get to enjoy for much of the first act. And then in the second act, when Bobby Darin's life is pivoting to a different place, he meets the actress Sandra Dee, and the two of them have. Have an initially sort of reluctant courtship. But she is played wonderfully by Mean Girls, original Broadway cast alumnus Erica Hennigson, who gives a divine performance. She's stunning in this as well, and she has the less brash, the less comic material. She gets to find a lot more of the subtlety and the nuance within the script as the two of them talk about the more challenging years of their marriage and its deterioration. I think I would have loved to have spent even more time focusing on the impact of that for her and her portrayal of the issues that she had. Going to see him every night in his shows and feeling very on display as an expected member of the audience as the two of them became this beloved Hollywood couple. But she floats as if midair through the circle in the square auditorium and eventually just condenses into a sad little puddle of beautiful musical theatre sentiment in a very lovely performance. Then you have the members of Bobby Darin's family. And I think to fully talk about their performances, it's necessary for me to give you a little bit of a spoiler here. Perhaps you already know this about the life of Bobby Darren, but for the second time in two nights, I was in a Broadway audience. And there was a whole plot point about a young man finding out that the woman that he thought was his mother, who raised him as his mother, turned out not to have been his mother. For Bobby Darin, this was his grandmother, played by Michelle Paulk. She's a Broadway veteran. I've seen her before in Wicked as Madame Morrible. I loved her performance in this. I know that there weren't featured actress in a musical, Tony Award nominations for everybody this season, but I thought that she was really, really great as well. And her connection with Jonathan as Bobby, as the woman who perhaps remained, at least as far as it's depicted in the musical, the most important person in his life was Jonathan. Just so honest and special and deeply felt. It's the kind of a performance that makes you need to step outside of the theater afterwards and call your mother. She was so great, but also feisty and sassy and wonderful and everything that you wanted her to be. Then you have Emily Burgle, who was introduced to us at the beginning of the show as his very worrying older sister, who was always very concerned about his health. And she is revealed later in the show to have actually been his biological mother, but that he was born out of wedlock and she was too young. And so the decision was made to raise him under visibly different circumstances. And the two of them have a sort of a strained relationship later in life after this is revealed, after this comes to light. But it certainly illuminates a lot of the qualities of her characterization and the relationship between the two of them, them leading up to that. I think this moment and this character could definitely have even more flesh and even more space. But as I said before, we are kind of rooted in the perspective of Bobby Darren. And it's not something that he wanted to immediately investigate and forge a relationship with and dive into. I think in that moment, as far as the show is concerned and as far as he as a character is concerned, it was about reevaluating his relationship to the woman he believed had been his mother this entire time. But everything that we got to see of Emily Bergle's performance I really enjoyed, and I like that she was the person plastered in the audience at the beginning. And I think you can go back and you can see the show a second time and you can notice a lot of brilliant early details in her performance and the affection that she has for the man we thought was her brother, who was actually her son. And I can go on and on and on about it, but I just loved her. This. I would go back and see this again. It was dazzling. It was, let me say it for you one more time, charming. Drink. Every time I've said the word charming in this review, I'm joking. Please don't. As I mentioned, not a show whose journey to Broadway I initially felt as though I understood. Not one that I anticipated loving nearly as much as I did. But it's just a wonderful piece of musical theatre that justifies its own existence. Absolutely. And I would absolutely encourage you to go and see it. Even if this is not something that you think might be the show for you. If you are intrigued by different variations on the musical theatre storytelling convention, I think this is worth seeing. Certainly. As I said, if you're any kind of a Jonathan Groff fan, but also if you're looking for an evening of joy and delight and whimsical escapism that reminds you how lucky we all are to be alive, then go and see Just In Time at the Circle in the Square Theatre on Broadway. Apparently you have many more months in which to do that than I had initially realized. In the meantime, thank you so much for listening to my thoughts on this new musical. As always, I would love to know what you thought as well. If you have also had the absolute privilege of seeing Just in Time on Broadway, let us all know what you thought about it in the comments section down below. And if you want to stay up to date with the rest of my theatre reviews coming very soon, make sure you're subscribed right here on YouTube. Turn on those notifications so YouTube lets you know every time I post a new video, whether it's a review or not, it or go follow me on podcast platforms. I hope that everyone is staying safe and that you have a stagey day for 10 more seconds. I'm Mickey Jo Theater. Oh my God. Hey, thanks for watching. Have a Stagey Day. Subscribe.