Just in Time

Thursday night, June 12, marked my ninth and final show of this Broadway trip. I was tired, but I was also very excited to see Jonathan Groff for the first time. I had heard COVID was going through some Broadway companies, so my first task was to make sure he was in the cast for the night. The front of house manager told me that so far, everyone was in for that night’s show. Phew!

I had just been invited to Opening Night for Call Me Izzy that night, so if Jonathan was out, I needed to quickly get to Studio 54. Because Call Me Izzy was nearby and because it started one hour earlier than Just In Time, I did get to enjoy some of the Opening Night festivities outside the venue. I looked into rescheduling my Just In Time show, because Opening Nights are so fun, but I had reserved “banquette seating” on the floor, which was now sold out for quite some time. I decided to stick with Just In Time and see Call Me Izzy on a future trip (side note: Call Me Izzy is apparently very good, according to friends who went to Opening Night).

This was my first time attending a show at Circle in the Square, and I actually had a hard time finding it! I have never before had trouble finding a Broadway venue, because you can usually spot the show’s signage from a block or more away. But as Jonathan said, “Welcome to the show in Wicked’s basement!” So there’s your clue: if you see signage for Wicked and are at the Wicked venue, you are very close. There just isn’t great signage for Just In Time on the Wicked side where your maps software might direct you to.

When the house opened, I walked in an immediately thought wow, this venue is much smaller than I expected! The smaller the better, so this was exciting. I was refused a Playbill, which confused me, and then it was explained to me that patrons on the floor would not get their Playbills until after the show. It makes sense, as the show is so immersive that we are sometimes part of the show. The Playbills would add clutter and distraction. Similarly, our complementary beverage would also be collected prior to the show starting. That’s right, there were nightclub servers offering a complementary beverage. I was directed to a sofa immediately next to the second stage, and it was unlike any seat I’ve ever had at any prior show. I met my unplanned date for the show, a woman in town for business who purchased the other seat on our sofa. By traditional theatre seating standards, this sofa could possibly fit three patrons, so it was nice we were not squished in and had ample room on our sofa in what they called banquette seating.

My new date and I commented how shocked we were that some of the folks at the tables were dressed like they just woke up and didn’t have time to put anything nice on. I’m fine with theatre not having a formal dress code, but if you splurge for an expensive nightclub table in the middle of the stage, why not dress up a bit? Even nice jeans and a nice top would be better than sweats and a t-shirt. It reminded me of the time I saw a man wearing baggy sweatpants and an I heart NYC tank top at a show, but hey, perhaps he was a tourist making a spontaneous theatre ticket purchase - good for him! And he was just in the orchestra section, not on the floor in an immersive show.

This is an exciting show, and out of the nine incredible shows I saw during this Broadway trip, I rated this show as “best experience.” I’m going back and taking my daughter to see this show, even though the prices have recently gone up quite a bit, which is harmful for accessibility. I purchased the same banquette sofa seats, except I flipped us to the other side, just so I could have a different perspective.

You may hear theatre regulars talk about “getting to see the original cast” in a show, and this is definitely one where it’s special to see this original cast, as this cast is just so good.

Because of the smaller venue size, you need to plan in advance to see this show. While there likely isn’t a bad seat in the house, your risk is the show may be sold out when you are in town. This show has only been open since April 26, and word will continue to spread about just how incredible this experience is. This is one where you want to secure your tickets in advance. I already have tickets for a mid-December performance.

And no, you do not need to be a Bobby Darin fan to enjoy this show.

Jonathan Groff and the rest of this top notch cast make this a performance you will likely remember for the rest of your life. It’s that much fun.

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