“Just in Time” at Circle in the Square Theatre (Photo: Matthew Murphy & Evan Zimmerman)

The title suggests a sense of urgency: Just in Time. Yet few Broadway shows this season have felt less necessary than this standard-issue musical biography of Bobby Darin, now playing at Circle in the Square. There are surely elements that appeal to audiences of all stripes—Jonathan Groff’s quick return to the boards after his Tony-winning turn in Merrily We Roll Along, the fond memory trap for theatergoers who grew up with the popular crooner’s music—but the production itself coasts on bland nostalgia that pads an already overextended running time. The Darin standard “Mack the Knife” may be heard throughout, but the material itself is dull rather than cutting.

Director Alex Timbers and his talented creative team—set designer Derek McLane, costume designer Catherine Zuber, and lighting designer Justin Townsend—transform Circle in the Square into a swinging-sixties nightclub, complete with cabaret tables and servers poised to sell you an overpriced drink. The production concept makes a certain kind of sense, since Darin spent the bulk of his career in these kinds of rooms, and it interestingly turns the various relationships with women throughout his life into a series of performances. But neither Timbers nor librettists Warren Leight and Isaac Oliver linger long enough in this meta-theatrical concept to really develop it, and whenever the show verges on something intriguing, it reverts to concert mode.

If that’s what you’re after, you’ll find the material is well-performed. Groff looks and sounds nothing like Darin (and at one point, he confusingly introduces himself as “Jonathan,” furthering the odd collapse between performer and character), but he throws himself into the role with his signature hard-working style. His journey through Darin’s tumultuous life and early death feels telegraphed, however, and it remains unclear how the various roadblocks he encountered actually affected him. The writing is partly to blame here, but a stronger central acting performance could go a long way in making this feel more like an actual narrative musical.

Similarly, as Darin’s romantic cohort, Gracie Lawrence (Connie Francis) and Erika Henningsen (Sandra Dee) favor a contemporary Broadway pop style of singing at odds with how these women actually sounded. Lawrence, especially, has an attractive edge to her voice, but it strains credulity to imagine her as a big-band singer or early pop crooner. The great Michele Pawk approximates the style of the era more effectively, but she’s given precious little to do. Ditto Emily Bergl, in what essentially amounts to an extended cameo.

Pawk and Bergl play Polly Walden and Nina Cassotto, respectively—the women that Darin believed were his mother and sister. In actuality, Nina gave birth to Darin (real name: Walden Robert Cassotto), while Polly raised him to spare the family the shame of an illegitimate child. This is just one of the juicy aspects of Darin’s backstory that the writers’ glance at without adequately exploring. A recurring theme involves introducing a complex issue and then pivoting. This is true as well of Darin’s lifelong health struggles, which led to his premature death at age 37, and his allegedly volatile relationships with romantic partners. The show seems content to coast on Groff’s likable personality and the familiarity of Darin’s repertoire.

In that sense, Just in Time regularly feels like the kind of nightclub revues that Darin himself performed throughout his career. There’s flash, there’s swing, and there’s glamour, but there’s little in the way of substance. The audience swoons for Darin’s classic standard “Beyond the Sea,” but the show itself merely treads water.