Alex Timbers hinted, in "Moulin Rouge," that his personal mission is to make Broadway even dumber. In "Just in Time," he seals the deal.
This almost incredibly lazy musical makes a standard error: conflating a life with a plot. A plot has rising action, leading to a climactic turning point; the plot then finds a denouement. This is not how life works. God is not a storyteller. Life is one damn thing after another after another.
Good writers sometimes get confused about plot. Even "Hamilton" gets a case of "biopic dreariness" in Act Two; somewhere around the third hour, you begin to hear coughing and lozenge-fondling "in the house." But "Hamilton" has rich characters and well-built songs--so the writer is able to paper over some structural issues. That's not the case with "Just in Time."
Start with the title. I know it's a song that Bobby Darrin performed. (He didn't write it, and he didn't release the first version.) Otherwise, I have no idea what the title has to do with the production--what the title might be trying to say. (I have a strong feeling Alex Timbers is similarly hazy with regard to this question.)
Things do not improve. There is no compelling reason for a new Bobby Darrin story; people do not wander around saying, I'm just swimming in questions I want to ask about Bobby Darrin. Darrin has a girlfriend, then he doesn't. The reason seems to be that the young lady's father is overprotective--but one wonders if there might be more to the story. (If not....is the story worth telling?)
Bobby Darrin next meets Sandra Dee, who quickly becomes frustrated with Darrin's absenteeism. Tedious speeches--labeled, by the Times, "Wikipedia info dumps"--inform us that Darrin leaves Sandra Dee, becomes a hermit, and mounts a brief comeback. And: curtain. Groff tells us--right before the bows--that the message of the story is the following: "Be here now." But: really? It's not clear how he lands on this bromide. And do we need to pay hundreds of dollars to hear this? Couldn't we get the same message from a cardboard Starbucks cup?
Groff is delightful--for the most part--but I even grew a little tired of Groff. I was irritated by his meandering, narcissistic speech about Broadway Cares--a puzzling monologue that had little to do with AIDS and quite a bit to do with Groff.
Bad show. The critics were correct. Groff made four stunning, consecutive, brilliant choices: "Spring Awakening," "Hamilton," "Little Shop," "Merrily We Roll Along." This new effort is a surprising misstep.
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