Photo by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman

I am unabashedly a Jonathan Groff fan and enjoyed his work in “Spring Awakening,” “Merrily We Roll Along," “Little Shop of Horrors,” and “Hamilton.” I even watched him in a straight role as an FBI agent, profiling serial killers in the television show “Mindbenders.”

So I looked forward to his star turn as Bobby Darin in “Just in Time,” the new jukebox bio-musical at Circle in the Square. Although Darin died young, he had several hit songs, showing diversity with songs including “Beyond The Sea,” “Mack the Knife,” “Splish Splash,” and “Dream Lover.”

In an unique opening, the show begins in 2025 as Groff is introduced as himself, appears rising up through the floor and sings two of Darin songs. He explains he will portray Darin and tries to draw parallels (albeit weak) between himself and Darin.

Perhaps the idea (book by Warren Leight and Isaac Oliver ) was to make it clear that Groff would make no attempt to imitate Darin. The show describes his relationship with young Connie Francis (played by pop singer Gracie Lawrence making her Broadway debut.) Lawrence performs “Who’s Sorry Now,” one of her hits. She sings well and has a powerful voice but doesn’t sound like Francis. Darin is in love with her, but her overly-protective Italian father threatens him, so the two separate.

The story unfolds chronologically, introducing Darin as a sickly child who was not expected to live past the age of 16. Once he passed that age, his life changed dramatically. His mother (Michele Pawk,) a former performer, groomed him to play the Copa one day.

Darin started his musical career as a songwriter, writing jingles with Don Kirschner, and the show suggests that his first big hit “Splish Splash” wasn’t exciting for him because it merely felt like a longer jingle. That didn't matter to the enthusiastic Groff fans in the audience who were delighted when he got into a bathtub to perform the song.

Darin’s later songs were variations of other material as he continued to seek his own voice. When he dared to do something different, the record label refused to release the album, so he had to pay for the recording himself. One of the cuts was in “Mack the Knife” from Bertolt Brecht’s “Threepenny Opera” which became a number one hit, winning him two Grammys

Always seeking more, he acted in movies where he met Sandra Dee, the teenage movie darling whom he later married. They had a son but later divorced.

Darin was influenced by the women in his life. Connie Francis, Sandra Dee (played by fine singer Erika Henningsen) and his sister Nina (Emily Bergl.) The most significant figure was Polly Walden, the woman who raised him. The experienced Pawk is likeable but her singing is merely adequate. The show goes through the last third of his life quickly, including his interest in politics, supporting Robert F. Kennedy.

Some ‘fun facts’ about Bobby Darin for a trivia game. (Assuming all the events are true.) Polly, the woman he thought was his mother, was actually his grandmother and his sister was really his mother. He came up with his name from the sign from a Mandarin Hotel missing its first few letters. He asked Connie Francis to marry him.

Despite his success, his life was sad and short, and he died at age 37. Darin was a successful musician, a singer-songwriter, and an actor and, despite achieving fame in the late 1950s, always seemed to be searching for something more,

Despite Darin’s melancholy, Groff is always upbeat and moving, flanked by the Sirens, three singer-dancers, clad in short spangly dresses. Groff is charming, talented, and personable with a way of making contact with the audience that everyone feels he’s looking just at them.

The charismatic Groff constantly moves through the art-deco design of the theater with cabaret tables in the middle (Set design by Derek McLane.) We are obviously at The Copa. At one point, Groff sings while standing on the center table as it is rotating, much to the delight of the two women seated there.

Groff often reminds us that this is a show by snapping his fingers to freeze the action and address the audience. During one significant moment, Henningsen uses the same device to give Sandra Dee’s perspective.

Developed and directed by Tony Award winner Alex Timbers, “Just In Time” could have easily been ‘An Evening with Jonathan Groff” especially since several of the songs were not even Darin’s. Music is the highlight of the show (Andrew Resnick oversaw music supervision and orchestrations with Michael Thurber).

Groff is good at being Groff. He didn't have to portray Darin; he would easily fill the theater, just playing himself.