BroadwayWorld has just learned that JUST IN TIME, starring Tony Award winner Jonathan Groff as Bobby Darin, has found its supporting cast. Gracie Lawrence (The band Lawrence, “The Sex Lives of College Girls”) in her Broadway musical debut is Connie Francis, and Drama Desk Award nominee Emily Bergl (Good Night, Oscar) is Nina/Mary.
JUST IN TIME has scenic design by two-time Tony Award winner Derek McLane (Death Becomes Her), costume design by eight-time Tony Award winner Catherine Zuber (Moulin Rouge!), lighting design by Tony Award winner Justin Townsend (Here Lies Love), and sound design by Tony Award winner Peter Hylenski (Maybe Happy Ending).
Developed and directed by Tony Award winner Alex Timbers (Moulin Rouge), JUST IN TIME will transform Broadway’s Circle in the Square Theatre (235 West 50th Street) into an intimate night club where the great American entertainer’s meteoric journey – from soaring highs to crushing lows – is brought to life by Groff, a cast of 16, and features a live on-stage band performing Bobby Darin’s iconic hits including “Beyond the Sea,” “Splish Splash,” “Dream Lover,” and “Mack the Knife.”
JUST IN TIME has a book by Tony Award winner Warren Leight (Side Man) and Isaac Oliver (Intimacy Idiot, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”), music supervision and arrangements by Andrew Resnick (Parade), choreography by Shannon Lewis (“Saturday Night Live,” Fosse), and is based on an original concept by Ted Chapin. JUST IN TIME will open Wednesday, April 23, 2025, at Broadway’s Circle in the Square Theatre (235 West 50th Street), with previews beginning Friday, March 28, 2025.
JUST IN TIME stars Tony Award winner Jonathan Groff (Merrily We Roll Along, Hamilton), Gracie Lawrence (“The Sex Lives of College Girls”), Tony Award winner Michele Pawk (Wicked), Joe Barbara (A Bronx Tale The Musical), Drama Desk Award nominee Emily Bergl (Good Night, Oscar), Lance Roberts (The Music Man), Caesar Samayoa (Come From Away), Christine Cornish (Kiss Me, Kate), Julia Grondin (Funny Girl), Valeria Yamin (Moulin Rouge!), John Treacy Egan (My Fair Lady), Tari Kelly (Mr. Saturday Night), Matt Magnusson (A Wonderful World), Khori Michelle Petinaud (Lempicka), and Larkin Reilly (Bad Cinderella).
Look out, Jonathan’s back! Tony Award winner Jonathan Groff returns to Broadway as Bobby Darin, the legendary singer whose short but remarkable life took him from teen idol to global sensation, inspiring generations of performers who followed. JUST IN TIME is an exhilarating new musical that immerses audiences into an intimate, swinging nightclub complete with a live big band, a stellar ensemble cast, and a parade of Bobby Darin’s hits including “Beyond the Sea,” “Mack the Knife,” “Splish Splash,” and “Dream Lover.” Discover the man behind the music who pushed back against the record labels to chart a new course for himself on the charts – a once-in-a-lifetime talent who knew his time was limited and was determined to make a splash before it was too late.
Bios:
Gracie Lawrence (Connie Francis) is a musician, co-leading the soul-pop band Lawrence, and an actor, currently starring in season 3 of “The Sex Lives of College Girls” on MAX. Lawrence, who co-fronts the band alongside her brother Clyde, has an illustrious touring career, playing festivals and headline shows around the world, such as Coachella, Bonnaroo, Firefly, Outside Lands, and a recent opening slot with The Rolling Stones and opening run for the Jonas Brothers on the North American leg of their THE TOUR. The band also had recent notable live performances on “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon,” “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” “The Kelly Clarkson Show,” “CBS Saturday Morning,” and “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” In 2022, Lawrence’s single “Don’t Lose Sight” was featured in an international Microsoft commercial leading to significant accomplishments including a Top 20 hit on the USA Shazam Pop Charts and a #33 spot on Top 40 Mediabase Charts. This summer Lawrence released their 4th studio album, “Family Business”, that included their 2nd Top 40 charting single “Whatcha Want” and launched The Family Business Tour with their biggest headline shows around the world, including a sold-out show at the iconic Radio City Music Hall in NY. On the acting side, Gracie’s diverse acting portfolio includes Showtime series “Billions,” and a series regular role on the CBS All Access series “One Dollar.” Gracie’s film appearances include roles in Amy Poehler’s Netflix teen comedy-drama “Moxie,” Rhys Ernst’s “Adam,” and the Disney+ Christmas comedy “Noelle.”
Emily Bergl (Nina/Mary) a unique actress among her peers, is known for her ability to transform from role to role. With versatility across genres, she has had a flourishing career in television, film and theater. As a young actress understudying on Broadway, Emily was chosen from a nationwide casting call to play the lead in The Rage: Carrie 2, her very first job on camera. Wary of being typecast as a scream queen, she returned to the theater to play Juliet opposite Neil Patrick Harris, then starred in The Lion in Winter on Broadway opposite Laurence Fishburne and Stockard Channing. Emily’s roles on television are so transformative she is often unrecognizable from one character to the next: Alex Bornstein’s ditzy, resourceful sister in “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” a hardnosed investigator on “Mindhunter,” and a gun toting, trailer park Chicago mother in “Shameless.” On “Desperate Housewives,” she shocked audiences as the suicidal housewife ‘Beth Young.’ Other regular television roles include “You,” “Dirty John,” “The Knick,” “American Crime,” “How to Get Away with Murder,” “Scandal,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Southland,” “Men in Trees,” and “The Gilmore Girls.” True to her original roots, Emily has combined a thriving television career with equally diverse roles in the theater. She recently starred on Broadway opposite Sean Hayes in Goodnight Oscar, for which she was nominated for a Drama Desk award. Other Broadway appearances include The Ferryman, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof opposite Scarlett Johansson, and A Touch of the Poet opposite Gabriel Byrne. Off-Broadway she has starred in Shakespeare in the Park, and has originated roles in new works by Gina Gionfriddo, Christopher Shinn, and Wendy Wasserstein. She has played iconic parts in classic dramas from Moliere to Thornton Wilder at the Lincoln Center, the Roundabout Theater, and the Williamstown Theater Festival, among others. Perhaps Emily’s most unique career aspect is that she has reinvented herself as a cabaret singer. She has played the premier night clubs across the country from the Cafe Carlyle to Yoshi’s and made the last album to be recorded in the Oak Room, “Emily Bergl Live at the Algonquin.” Emily will be appearing opposite Jonathan Groff on Broadway in Just in Time this spring. She can also be seen in the upcoming film The History of Sound, starring Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor.
Derek McLane (Scenic Design). BROADWAY: Othello, Death Becomes Her, MJ the Musical, Moulin Rouge!, Purlie Victorious, A Soldier’s Play, American Son, The Parisian Woman, The Price, Noises Off, Fully Committed, Beautiful, Gigi, Anything Goes, The Heiress, The Best Man, Follies, How to Succeed In Business Without Even Trying, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, Million Dollar Quartet, Ragtime, 33 Variations The Pajama Game, I Am My Own Wife. OFF-BROADWAY: Babe, Here There Are Blueberries, Black No More, Merrily We Roll Along, The True, Jerry Spring the Opera, If I Forget, The Whirligig, Into The Woods, Love, Love, Love, Sweet Charity, Evening at the Talk House, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Buried Child, The Spoils, Sticks and Bones, The Last Five Years, A Lie of the Mind, Ruined, Hurlyburly. TELEVISION: He designed the 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 & 2018 Academy Awards, 2024 SAG Awards, 2024 Met Gala as well as the NBC LIVE! Musicals The WIZ & HAIRSPRAY and others. AWARDS: Winner of 1997 + 2004 OBIE Awards, 2004, 2005, 2007 Lortel Awards; 2009 + 2021 Tony Award, 2011+ 2021 Drama Desk Award, 2015, 2016 Art Directors Guild Award, 2014 + 2017 Emmy Award.
Catherine Zuber (Costume Design). Broadway credits include Moulin Rouge! The Musical (Tony Award), My Fair Lady (Tony Award), The King & I (Tony Award), South Pacific (Tony Award), The Coast of Utopia (Tony Award), The Light in the Piazza (Tony Award), Awake and Sing! (Tony Award), The Royal Family (Tony Award), Dinner at Eight (Tony nomination), Twelfth Night (Tony nomination) How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (Tony nomination), Golden Boy (Tony nomination), War Paint (Tony nomination), Born Yesterday (Tony nomination), Edward Albee’s Seascape (Tony nomination), Twelfth Night (Tony nomination), How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (Tony nomination), Golden Boy (Tony nomination), War Paint (Tony nomination), Born Yesterday (Tony nomination), Junk, Gigi (Drama Desk Award), Oslo, Doubt, Fiddler on the Roof, The Father, and Mrs. Doubtfire. Metropolitan Opera: Il Barbieri di Siviglia, Les Contes d’Hoffman, Comte Ory, L’elisir d’Amore, Otello, Dr. Atomic, Roméo et Juliette. 2016 Induction: Theater Hall of Fame.
Justin Townsend (Lighting Design) is an international lighting designer for performance. Broadway lighting designs include: Death Becomes Her, Once Upon A Mattress, Here Lies Love, Moulin Rouge! The Musical (Tony Award, Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Circle Award), Jagged Little Pill (Tony Nomination), American Psycho (Tony nomination, Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Circle Award, and Henry Hewes Award), The Humans (Tony nomination, Drama Desk Award), The Nap, Little Foxes, Present Laughter, Casa Valentina, A Night with Janis Joplin (NAACP Theatre Award), Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, The Other Place, and Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (Hewes Nomination, OCC Nomination). As Creative Director, Justin collaborated with Grammy-winning recording artist Drake, designing a 50′-tall replica of the top of the CN Tower for Drake’s OvO Fest in Toronto. The two also paired up for 2017’s “Boy Meets World” European tour. Most recently he created two immersive lighting installations on Brooklyn Museum’s Solid Gold exhibit. Off Broadway work includes Joan of Arc: Into the Fire, Here Lies Love,(Public, Drama Desk for HLL); Vietgone, (MTC); Pretty Filthy, (Civilians); Mr. Burns, a Post Electric Play (Playwrights); Odyssey, A Winter’s Tale, (Publicworks); Venus (Signature Theater); Unnatural Acts,(Classic Stage Company, Lucille Lortel Award). Justin received an Obie Award for Sustained Excellence in Lighting Design in 2014. He is the Chair of the Department of Design for Stage and Film at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. www.justintownsend.com
Peter Hylenski (Sound Design). Tony Award, Drama Desk Award, and Outer Critics Circle Award Honor for his work on Moulin Rouge! The Musical. A Grammy, Olivier, and eight time Tony nominee, his selected Broadway designs include: Maybe Happy Ending, Death Becomes Her, All In, Moulin Rouge!, Frozen, Anastasia, Beetlejuice, Once On This Island, Something Rotten, King Kong, Rock of Ages, After Midnight, Motown, The Scottsboro Boys, Side Show, Rocky, Bullets Over Broadway,. Other designs: Death Becomes Her, Awakening, Le Rêve and Lake of Dreams at Wynn Las Vegas. Peter holds a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University.
