When it first opened, it was easy to see the Bobby Darin bio-musical Just in Time as merely a star vehicle for Jonathan Groff. After all, the project had been a labor of love for the actor who conceived the show with Ted Chapin and developed it for nearly a decade. His triumphant, charismatic performance turned the show into a surprise hit that exceeded everyone’s expectations. So the question was, how would it fare when he left?
Just fine, it turns out. After a brief place-holding turn by Matthew Morrison, the show now stars Jeremy Jordan. Which the actor lets you know right from the start, in the same manner as his predecessor.
“Hello, I am Jeremy Jordan, and I will be your Bobby Darin this afternoon,” he welcomed the crowd at a recent matinee. It’s a canny bit of fourth-wall breaking that neatly separates the actor from his role, relieving the pressure to deliver a strictly imitative performance.
And also like Groff he personalizes the encounter, informing us that this is his third Broadway show in two years, having recently played the title roles in The Great Gatsby and Floyd Collins.
“I’m just trying to make it to the curtain alive for once,” Jordan jokes, referring to the fact that both characters in those shows met untimely demises.
Of course, he suffers a similar fate here, as Darin died from a heart condition at the age of 37. But while that morbid ticking clock inevitably hangs over the proceedings, it doesn’t detract from the joyfulness of the show which also features several new performers in supporting roles.
If there’s one element missing in Jordan’s turn, it’s the powerful emotional connection to the material with which Groff infused his performance. The show had been a longtime dream for the actor who received a Tony nomination for it just one year after his win for the revival of Merrily We Roll Along.
But that will hardly matter to newcomers to the production who can take Jordan’s performance on its own terms. And those terms are stellar, with the actor proving sensational in the role. His vocals, including a seductive croon, are even better than his predecessor. Besides his natural charm and likability, he also conveys a strong dramatic intensity that brings a true emotional charge to such scenes as Darin’s confrontation with his sister (holdover Emily Bergl, superb) over a long-suppressed family secret. And although not known as a particularly skilled dancer, Jordan has clearly been putting in the work, infusing his energetic hoofing with a gleefulness that proves infectious.
Just in Time is ostensibly a musical about Bobby Darin, but its true subject is the joy of live performing. Jordan, who has developed into one of Broadway’s true MVPs, makes you feel Darin’s passion for singing his heart out in front of an audience from first moment to last.
The other replacements are also outstanding, with Olivia Holt delivering gorgeous vocals as Connie Frances and Carrie St. Louis (who recently played Dolly Parton, or at least one version of Dolly, in the Broadway-bound Dolly: A True Original Musical) very moving as the long-suffering wife Sandra Dee. Broadway veteran Debbie Gravitte (“Ninth Broadway Show!” her Playbill bio proclaims) delights as Darin’s mother Polly, a former vaudeville singer who has lost none of her brassiness.
Alex Timbers’ staging, transforming the Circle in the Square into an intimate nightclub that provides plenty of up-close-and-personal interactions with the performers, has held up beautifully. And if more replacement leads of the caliber of Jordan can be recruited, Bobby Darin will be performing there for a long time to come.
Just in Time opened April 26, 2025, at Circle in the Square. Tickets and information: justintimebroadway.com
