Video: Jonathan Groff is Bringing His Passion Project to Broadway

Hello, I'm Richard Ridge for Broadway World

Tony Award winner Jonathan Groff is returning to Broadway as Bobby Darren in the new musical Just in Time, which is conceived and directed by Alex Timbers

And we drop by so-and-so's to meet the company. I am beyond excited

It's been almost a seven-year process of developing this show. It's been a passion project for all of us working on at this creative team

We've been together, most of us, for all those seven years. and to finally be bringing it to Broadway is so exciting

So eight years ago, Ted Chapin had said, why don't we do a weekend of lyrics and lyricists

and the night second street Y, and you'll do the songbook of Bobby Darren. And so Jonathan called me and he said

would you like to work on this? I'd never worked with him before. And I was like, absolutely. And I think the great thing was

we had never seen a lyrics and lyricist before, so we didn't know what it was supposed to be. So we staged a whole musical in two days

And the experience and the audience response was sort of ignited this fire that

We should try to actually do this. What was it about him that unlocked him for you

Because you're embodying him, his spirit, his soul. What was it for you

It was his, like, he would, like in these clips that I was watching on YouTube, it started with that

I was like, this guy is, there is a primal need to perform that I connect with

I mean, he was this, like, Playboy crooner. I'm, you know, a musical theater nerd from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania

In some ways, he grew up in the Bronx, couldn't be more in opposition as far as like

energies and people. But there was something in him that I saw that I felt like I understand what this need is Our trombone player Jimmy O we were texting about Bobby and his music and he pointed out to me which is such a great observation

that anytime you watch Bobby Darren sing Mac the Knife Live, he never does it the same way twice, but you always know it's him doing it

And so one of the things that we're attempting to do musically, and Andrew Resnick are phenomenal music supervisor arranger

with these incredible arrangements that honor, the past, but hopefully also feel relevant and in the present moment too. And we're trying to

create like space in the, in the musicianship for live in the moment things happening. So we wanted to

feel as present as possible every night, eight shows a week, of course doing the same material

but trying to feel it fresh every single night. And part of the gift of the Bobby Deering

catalog is that you've got the 50s, 60s, and 70s. So you have the kind of like, you've got the

like Sinatra, Sammy Davis, kind of like a great American songbook stuff. You've got the pop, like 50s

60s music. And then you've got the early 70s, late 60s folk music. If I were a carpenter

we get to really run the gamut of musical styles. I mean, to be really honest, this is a gift for me

in so many ways. I worked with Jonathan years ago. He played my son in a beautiful Craig Lucas

just play. And so the opportunity to kind of pick up where that relationship left off and just

go deeper has been really a gift. And then this whole creative team, right? Alex, Shannon

Andrew. I mean, it's kind of unbelievable. Oh my gosh. I feel like I've been shot out of

canon I can believe it I really excited I came to the process kind of later in the game and I literally feel like I the number one fan of the show because every day I discover something new about it

and go like, wait, that's what our set looks like, that's what Gracie sounds like, that's what Jonathan does

I mean, it's kind of wild, and I'm just excited. I mean, I'm excited to just be in the rehearsal process and craft it

But I know when we get an audience there, it's just going to take on a whole

whole other element that I have never experienced in my live theatrical life

Like, the audience for this show, I think, is as important as the work that we're doing on

stage. And I am, like, tickled for that experience. I mean, I've been a fan of Jonathan's

forever, and I've been a fan of Alex's forever. And I met Alex a few years ago and just

have admired him and his work. And the way that he kind of

has his own role book for how Broadway operates and the shows that he makes

are so creative and so innovative and so being in one of those shows

is kind of like life-changing and at the same time working with Jonathan who

as we all know is a nightmare and I work with no you can only make that joke because he's

literally the opposite of that a perfect performer and a perfect person

so it's just been like a dream I sound like I'm being so

But it's actually that experience. Yeah. You're going to see his life. You're going to see his life story as he was starting as a writer, discovered that he's a singer

And then how he kind of catapults himself into the entertainment industry and changes it You know changes it like right on his feet He starts doing something different that people have never done before It an incredible story and he an incredible talent

I cannot wait. You know, first of all, I love this music forever. I've always been a Bobby Darren fan

From the time I was watching Happy Days when I was, like, nine years old, and Potsie would sing Splish Splash

I'm like, that's a great song. So I've always been a Bobby Darren fan, and to be able to be a part of it on Broadway, unthinkable

I mean, Alex Timbers, Jonathan Graff, Bobby Darren, the music of Bobby Darren, just stop right there. That's enough for me

No, I'm so excited. The music really lends itself to dance. And we're dancing a lot in this show

And Jonathan has never danced this much in any show he's ever done. So it's a huge opportunity for me

to build such beautiful stylized choreography, but also keep it kind of edgy, you know, in 2025

So we're kind of holding hands with the past. But gosh, what an amazing opportunity. There's never been, you know, this

of the immersive staging that we're doing with the show and how we're going to move around

through the crowd and also dance, you know, production numbers and everything. So it's, it was an

amazing, amazing thing. And I, I jumped at the chance. Being in the room with Jonathan Graff

creating Bobby Darry, what's it been like for you? You know, I've had a lot of close collaborations

with actors, particularly over the last decade, but nothing compares to what this has been with

Jonathan. This is his passion project. It's become my passion project. He's involved with the design

He's involved with the dramaturg. He's involved with every element. And it is such a wonderful welcome collaboration

So the thing you see on stage is the product of the writers, the designers, me, the choreographer

But it's really also majorly a product of Jonathan's imagination