1 week Ago
Just In Time, the Bobby Darin jukebox musical starring Jonathan Groff opening tonight at a wonderfully dressed Circle in the Square on Broadway, does some serious and genuine starmaking, twice over in fact. Darin, the once hugely popular but now barely remembered nightclub singer and Top 40 hitmaker is returned to a spot in our cultural memory, and Groff, the Tony-winning star of last season's Merrily We Roll Along and for years now one of the stage's more popular young actors, newly emerges to the top ranks of the best, most natural all-around entertainers working today. Some performances – think Liza Minnelli in the film Cabaret, or Hugh Jackman in Broadway's The Boy From Oz – send their stars into new stratospheres, something outside the labels "actor" and "singer" and into that exclusive circle of stars who can hold a stage both as a character and as themselves, instantly recognizable and unique.
Just in Time, directed by Alex Timbers from an original concept by Ted Chapin, is an ideal showcase for Groff, in no small part due to the rather ingenious premise of the bio-musical: In a very effective framing device, Groff is introduced to the stage as Groff, setting up the show's ground rules: Groff isn't playing Darin, he's playing Groff playing Darin, a conceit that allows the star not only to break the fourth wall but that sets him free to speak directly about why he is so taken by a singer who died in 1973, making us care too. Watch on Deadline And perhaps most significantly, the Groff-as-Darin premise means the actor doesn't have to imitate Darin. Groff sings Darin's song as Groff – and all the better – and that simple approach lifts the restraints that strangle most jukebox musicals.
Just In Time doesn't always avoid the contrivances of the genre, but it renders them insignificant. But no mistake: Just in Time is a jukebox musical, not a Jonathan Groff Sings The Songs Of Bobby Darin concert (though I'd buy a ticket for that). In between songs –.
.. Greg Evans , Greg Evans.
