Can Jonathan Groff Make Tony History… Just in Time?

Just in Time on Broadway. (Photos by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman)

by Chris Peterson, OnStage Blog Founder

Let’s start with a fun fact that feels almost impossible: no male performer has ever won back-to-back Tony Awards for Lead Actor in a Musical. Not Nathan Lane. Not Brian Stokes Mitchell. Not even Norbert Leo Butz (though he came close). It’s the kind of stat that makes you pause and say, “Wait… really?” But here we are. And here comes Jonathan Groff.

Last year, Groff finally won his first Tony—long overdue—for his turn as Franklin Shepard in Merrily We Roll Along. And now, less than a year later, the word is spreading: he might be about to do it again.

Just in Time, the new jukebox musical about Bobby Darin, is positioning Groff for another serious run at Best Actor. It’s got all the ingredients: a nostalgic score filled with hits, a story that swings from glitzy highs to gut-punch lows, and a performance that demands everything. If early buzz is to be believed, Groff is putting on a clinic. It's the kind of part that Tony campaigns are built around.

But let’s not pretend the road is paved in gold records just yet. This Broadway season will be stacked. There’s going to be some real competition in this category. I expect Tom Francis(Sunset Boulevard), Darren Criss(Most Happy Ending), David Cumming(Operation Mincemeat) and Jeremy Jordan(Floyd Collins) to be joining Groff in the nominations. Let’s also not forget Andrew Durand hasn’t even opened Dead Outlaw yet either.

So yes, the competition is fierce. But if Groff gets nominated—and at this point, that feels more like a when than an if—he’s walking in with the kind of momentum you don’t often see. There’s a real chance he could make history. And honestly? He deserves to.

Jonathan Groff has quietly become one of the most consistently compelling performers of his generation. If Just in Time delivers—and if his Darin is as electrifying as people are saying—it might be more than just a great performance.

It might be one for the record books.