Planning a trip to New York City this theater season? If so put two musicals on your must-see list: the latest (fifth) revival of one of the greatest musicals in Broadway history, GYPSY, and the new bio-musical about the life of Bobby Darin, JUST IN TIME. The new incarnation of the racially reimagined Gypsy with its’ mostly Black cast stars the current reigning Broadway legend Audra McDonald, earning raves as Momma Rose, the real star of the “musical fable” based on the memoirs of Burlesque Queen Gypsy Rose Lee in the first half of the twentieth century. The original production, starring Broadway icon Ethel Merman, opened in 1959 and was adapted for the big screen in 1962, starring Rosalind Russell as Rose and Natalie Wood as Gypsy Rose Lee. 
Notably absent of course was Merman, and her devotees were incensed that she was not given the opportunity to recreate her acclaimed performance. That resentment has lingered through the decades, with some reviewers usually singling out the absence of Merman as the film’s biggest alleged liability. What they ignore is the fact that the ’62 film version is a vibrant, colorful, and relatively faithful version of the Broadway show. The ever pragmatic Jack L. Warner, who bought the rights to the show, had no faith in the box office appeal of Merman with her checkered and limited movie career. Warner’s no-confidence opinion was later reinforced by Angela Lansbury (the star of the first Broadway revival in 1974), who in a 2014 interview asserted, “She was it, even though she couldn’t really act her way out of a paper bag. But boy, could she sing.” The paying public apparently ignored the casting controversy, making Gypsy one of the top ten hits of the year, and the show’s enduring legacy lives on in the ’62 film version.
Mid-century popular culture is well represented by the career of Bobby Darin, who first emerged at the end the 1950s as a rock ‘n roll singing star. The new musical Just in Time chronicles his shortened show business career up to his untimely death at the age of 37 in 1973. The irrepressible Jonathan Groff, fresh from his 2024 Tony-winning performance in Merrily We Roll Along stars as Darin, and sings up a storm through Darin’s body of work that ranged from r&r, pop, country, and folk during the 60s with Darin scoring hits in all those music genres and winning two Grammys along the way. The “juke box” biographical revue does not fully explore, however, the fact that Darin also became a bona fide movie star, with four movies released in 1962 alone (with a holdover film, Too Late Blues that opened in December 1961, playing widely in the first months of ’62). 
They include the remake of the 40s screen musical State Fair, the rom-com If a Man Answers with his wife, teen favorite Sandra Dee, the WWII action pic Hell is for Heroes, and his critically acclaimed performance in the racially charged psychological drama Pressure Point opposite Sidney Poitier. Although Darin is mostly remembered as an activist/ entertainer, his deft versatility is also fully demonstrated in his ’62 movies, a diverse body of work in a single year that is rare in the annals of show business.
