Jonathan Groff kissing Bernadette Peters on the cheek and bowing down at her feet. Jeremy Jordan asking his “Supergirl” co-star Melissa Benoist to show off a few moves. Matthew Morrison extending his hand to Groff for a couple spins and a long hug. These candid and heartwarming interactions all took place during performances of Broadway’s Bobby Darin bio-musical “Just in Time.”
While the “dancing seat moment,” as it’s called internally among the show’s cast and creative team, is an early treat for audiences at the Circle in the Square Theatre, its filmed clips are also a frequent hit online. Many have garnered more than a million views on social media platforms and made headlines beyond theater publications. And since the interaction is with a regular ticket holder when no celebrity is present, there are multiple Reddit threads about how to pick the seat that the show’s Bobby Darin will choose for the moment.
“It’s the perfect social moment,” said Gráinne Kelly, associate director of social media for SpotCo, the musical’s advertising firm. Kelly compared “Just in Time”’s dancing seat moment to musicians’ concert bits, like Role Model’s “Sally, When the Wine Runs Out” celebrity cameos and Zara Larsson’s “Lush Life” dances with fans. “It’s only 30 seconds or so, but you get to see your Bobby, the cool people that are coming to the show, and this really human moment that they share,” Kelly said. “It gives us a branded opportunity to say this celebrity was here, but it also still feels intimate and authentic, which is what this show is.”
Creating the celebrity dance
Lisa Ann Walter, Al Roker, Cynthia Erivo, Mark Ballas, Jane Krakowski, Reece Weaver and Ashby are among the famous faces who’ve partaken in the lively exchange, which echoes the spirit of Darin himself. “When Bobby Darin performed live, he danced with people in the audience all the time,” said the musical’s choreographer, Shannon Lewis. “He’d often plant himself in an aisle and spin a lady around. He loved connecting with people and shaking them up with his visceral energy. [The creative team and I] were like, ‘There’s got to be a way we can fold this into the show.’”
