It is a situation devoutly to be wished – to be saturated with artistic excellence everywhere you look for over two hours.  “Just In Time” – recently opened at Circle In The Square will do that to you.  From the moment you enter the theatre, you are surrounded by glowing blue lighting, drapes, and a cocktail table scattered across the orchestra section.  This is Bobby Darin’s world, and welcome to it.  Your host for the show is the thrilling Jonathan Groff, who makes no bones about NOT being Bobby Darin.  He is there to tell the story.  Well, SING the story might be more accurate.

This is your standard come-from-nowhere and turn into a legend setup.  Like “A Beautiful Noise” (Neil Diamond) and “Beautiful” (Carole King).  It is written, however, in a way that pulls us in.  The audience is included in the telling of the tale.

Groff announces a few pit stops for the journey: New York, Las Vegas, Hollywood, and even Portofino.  The journey is not easy.  Starting at 2nd Avenue and 125th Street, where Walden Robert Perciville Cassotto was born.  He was a sick child, suffering from rheumatic fever more than once, which damaged his heart.  He overheard the doctor tell his mother it would be a miracle if the kid lived past 16. A sense of urgency was planted.  He bummed around the music world in midtown New York, always looking for more.  Falling in love with Connie Francis (Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero) threw him into romance, music, and a new name.  Slowly, the doors creaked open, but not with anything that made him proud.  Even his first gold record, “Splish Splash,” was not the acknowledgment he was looking for.

Darin does become the star he was looking for.  It is still not enough.  The outcome is dreary. His life is a short one.  Wisely, however, the creative team of Warren Leight and Isaac Oliver chose a path that focuses not on Darin’s death but on Darin’s style, the evolution of his music, and what he and Groff share.

Early on, Groff tells us “… all I ever wanted to do growing up was sing and dance on a stage, to entertain. To be trusted with a couple of hours of your day. To find your eyes out there in the dark and make a connection… Bobby Darin was the same. I never would’ve guessed I’d have anything in common with him, the playboy crooner and me in Mom’s pumps, but turns out I do. He loved — (gestures back and forth between himself and the audience)— this. It was the only relationship he was any good at.” Groff admits, “Me too.”

Groff plays both ends of the narration, sometimes as Darin and sometimes as himself.  He sings, dances, plays the piano, drums, and oh yeah, he acts. Like I said – THRILLING.  The writers lets him weave in and out of the story.  He never strays too far ahead of the audience.  His spectacular supporting cast, singer/actors, and band, zip in and out of the story as needed.  In particular, his three henchmen, Joe Barbara, Lance Roberts, and Caesar Samayoa, feel like they are everywhere at once.  They play everyone from Ed Sullivan to Murray the K and what seems like dozens more.  His Siren Singers (Christine Cornish, Julia Grondin, Valeria Yamin) harmonize, dance, and change costumes faster than the time it takes to blink.  Gracie Lawrence and Erika Henninsgen open private elements of Darin’s life as Connie Francis and Sandra Dee respectively.  Michelle Pawk is deeply, deeply affecting as Darin’s mother.  And the band – OIY the band!  Led by Andrew Resnick they are perfection in every way.

Because of the focus on Darin’s music, the moment has been earned when we all arrive at the spotlighted moment where he flips the switch on what to include in his first self-produced album.  How about a whacko combo?  Try “Up A Lazy River” (Hoagy Carmichael and Sidney Arodin) and Mack The Knife (Music by Kurt Weill/ English lyrics by Marc Blitzstein).  Oh yes, he did – and self-produced it.  By that time, we have tread on every lily pad, been through every face-plant, and every on-again-off-again moment.  We feel part of the journey because we are.  Groff makes sure of that; the cast surrounding him is the mortar that glues us all together.

When the show is over and we leave because they make us leave, we are not mourning the very short life of Bobby Darin.  Not even close.  We are celebrating.  We are high on the story of Bobby Darin.  He flew, and when fate asked him to fly higher, he went there.  He exited like a Roman Candle.  He did not go gentle into that good night.  “Just In Time” makes certain we remember that and gives us a piece of Bobby Darin to take with us. We don’t realize until later that we have left a piece of our hearts for safekeeping with Jonathan Groff, just the way Darin would have wanted.

JUST IN TIME is a book by Warren Leight and  Isaac Oliver.  Music supervision and arrangements by Andrew Resnick,  choreography by Shannon Lewis, and is based on an original concept by Ted Chapin.

WITH Jonathan Groff, Gracie Lawrence,, Erika Henningsen,  Michele Pawk, Joe Barbara, Emily Bergl, Lance Roberts, Caesar Samayoa, Christine Cornish, Julia Grondin, Valeria Yamin. John Treacy Egan, Tari Kelly, Matt Magnusson, Khori Michelle Petinaud, Larkin Reilly.

Scenic design by Derek McLane, costume design by Catherine Zuber, lighting design by Justin Townsend, and sound design by Peter Hylenski

Tickets for the world premiere of the new Broadway musical JUST IN TIME are available at the Circle in the Square Theatre box office (235 West 50^th Street) and at www.JustInTimeBroadway.com for performances through Sunday, July 27, 2025, with performances beginning Friday, March 28, 2025.  Tickets for JUST IN TIME start at $99, with exclusive Night Club floor seating available for an up-close and personal experience.  During previews, the playing schedule for JUST IN TIME is as follows: Monday through Saturday at 8 pm, with matinees Saturday at 2 pm.  Please note: There will be no performance on Thursday, April 24.  Beginning April 25, the playing schedule for JUST IN TIME is as follows: Tuesday and Thursday at 7 pm, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday at 8 pm, with matinees on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday at 2 pm.