A History of Pop Music Bio-Musicals
Just in Time is running on Broadway at the Circle in the Square Theatre.
By: Jennifer Ashley Tepper Jun. 29, 2025
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This time, the reader question was: What is the history of pop music bio-musicals like Just in Time on Broadway?
Currently playing on Broadway, Just in Time finds fan favorite Jonathan Groff vibrantly commanding the stage at Circle in the Square as Bobby Darin. Tony Award winner Groff leads the production that tells the story of the mid-20th century pop idol, known for songs from “Splish Splash” to “Mack the Knife”, who died tragically young. Just in Time draws audiences in to the journey of Darin’s family life, his rise to pop fame in the 1950s, his relationships with Connie Francis (Tony Award nominee Gracie Lawrence) and Sandra Dee (Erika Henningsen), and his later troubled years.
When patrons begin their experience at Just in Time, they are greeted by a down-to-earth intro where Groff introduces himself by name and shares that he’ll be exploring his love for Darin during the performance. This combined with the immersive treatment the show receives make the musical feel personal and immediate. The show, with book by Warren Leight and Isaac Oliver, originated as a 2018 Lyrics and Lyricists concert at the 92nd St Y, conceived by Ted Chapin.
Just in Time’s origin story as well as overall conceit has much in common with one of Broadway’s very first jukebox musicals, which was ahead of its time. In 1985, Leader of the Pack, telling the story of pop singer-songwriter Ellie Greenwich, opened at the Ambassador on Broadway. At the time, stage musicals that told the story of a figure in music while utilizing their songs were not at all the norm and folks did not know what to make of this show. In fact, it was such a new form that book writer Anne Beatts (an original Saturday Night Live writer) was credited not with the book but with “liner notes”. Ellie Greenwich, who had penned such hits as “Do Wah Diddy”, “Be My Baby”, and “Chapel of Love”, played herself in the second half of the show, lending a unique framing device to the proceedings. Leader of the Pack began its life as a concert at the Bottom Line downtown. While Leader of the Pack was nominated for Best Musical, it was not fully appreciated in its time; it would be years before jukebox musicals—biographical and otherwise—would become hits on Broadway. That said, the joyous Leader of the Pack is receiving a production at Bucks County Playhouse this summer.
There have been many bio-musicals on Broadway but the concept of using a musical figure’s own songs to tell the true story of their life only became popular relatively recently. Prior to Leader of the Pack, shows of this sort were mostly characterized as revues. They had very limited books, focusing on or entirely consisting of songs to carry the narrative, from Me and Bessie, about Bessie Smith in 1975 to Beatlemania in 1977. Cultural touchstones like VH1’s Behind the Music (1997-2014) showed that the public was interested in more in-depth storytelling when it came to learning the backstory of their favorite singers and songwriters.
Even before “behind the music” style documentaries fully captured the zeitgeist, Broadway got Jelly’s Last Jam (1992), with the songs of Jelly Roll Morton being used to tell his story, helmed by the visionary George C. Wolfe. Not until the following decade on Broadway was there an explosion of bio-musicals of this sort. Hugh Jackman achieved his first gigantic success on Broadway with 2003’s The Boy From Oz, which told the story of fellow Aussie Peter Allen, who Jackman was friends with in real life, through his songs. Lennon (2005) took an artistic approach to telling John Lennon’s life story, with multiple actors of all different identities portraying the iconic musician. In 2005, Jersey Boys took 52nd Street by storm; the dynamic story of The Four Seasons would rack up over 11 years on Broadway. The 2009 bio-musical Fela! shared Fela Kuti’s story with audience and became a hit, inspiring a return engagement in 2012.
More bio-musicals about popular figures in music using their own songs opened on Broadway during the 2010s than during any prior decade. Million Dollar Quartet was an outlier as it dramatized one specific event rather than a lifetime, and in doing so explored four figures, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis equally. 2011’s Baby It’s You! kicked off an interesting sub-genre: musicals telling the story of a figure through songs they were instrumental in popularizing—although they weren’t the artist themself. Beth Leavel portrayed Florence Greenberg, a groundbreaking music executive, particularly active in the world of girl groups. Motown (2013) would give Berry Gordy, founder of the Motown label, much the same treatment. A Night With Janis Joplin (2013) was essentially a solo piece with a very small amount of dialogue commemorating the rock legend. The decade’s biggest bio-musical hit of this sort was Beautiful (2014), centered around the beloved Carole King. On Your Feet! (2015) brought Cuban-inspired music to the forefront, telling the story of Gloria Estefan, with Estefan herself deeply personally involved. The one-named Summer (2018) and Tina (2019) gave the eponymous legends each the bio-musical treatment, with the songs of Donna Summer and Tina Turner echoing off the walls of the Lunt-Fontanne to close out the decade. And finally, Ain’t Too Proud (2019) was a high octane re-telling of the rise and fall of The Temptations.
So far this decade’s bio-musical treatments on Broadway have included A Beautiful Noise (Neil Diamond, 2022) which is currently on tour, MJ (Michael Jackson, 2022) which, like Million Dollar Quartet is shaped around one event rather than a lifetime, and this past season’s A Wonderful World (Louis Armstrong, 2024) and Buena Vista Social Club (Buena Vista Social Club, 2025).
Of course Broadway also has a long history of using the songs of a theatrical figure (as opposed to a popular music figure) to tell their life story. From George M! (George M. Cohan, 1968) to A Class Act (Ed Kleban, 2001) to LoveMusik (Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenye, 2007), these shows have aimed to show new generations the fascinating ways that historic Broadway figures have had their art and life intersect. Theatrical songs and songs written for musicals are put in new context. Bio-musicals about popular music figures are a bit of a different animal, although the two genres do have much in common.
There’s also the related musical theatre genre of popular musical figures from outside of Broadway creating original musicals featuring their new songs penned explicitly for the narrative. ABBA took a gander at this with Chess in 1988, and the beloved cult flop is about to receive a new Broadway treatment next season. An increasing number of shows in this category have emerged in the last 30 years, including but not limited to The Capeman (Paul Simon, 1998), 9 to 5 (Dolly Parton, 2009), The Last Ship (Sting, 2014), Waitress (Sara Bareilles, 2016), and The Notebook (Ingrid Michaelson, 2024).
This brings us to narrative-based shows featuring the work of a popular musical figure that tell stories unrelated to the artist rather than going the bio-musical route. This genre is exemplified by the game changer Broadway smash Mamma Mia! (2001, ABBA), which does not tell the story of ABBA but rather the story of a wedding where the bride invites her three possible fathers. A jukebox musical can be a bio-musical like Just in Time or an original story musical like Mamma Mia! Following Mamma Mia!’s massive success, Broadway has seen a proliferation of these shows, from the dance musical Movin’ Out (Billy Joel, 2002) to All Shook Up (Elvis Presley, 2005) to Holler If Ya Hear Me (Tupac, 2014), to the currently running & Juliet (Max Martin, 2022) to this past season’s Swept Away (The Avett Brothers, 2024). Broadway has in addition seen its share of revues featuring the work of popular music figures, from the mega-hit Smokey Joe’s Cafe (1995) to the Harlem jazz scene-framed After Midnight (2013).
Pop music bio-musicals like Just in Time also have a lot in common with bio-musicals about non-musical figures. Telling someone’s true life story in a musical is a time-honored creative venture that has always been popular on Broadway. Most often, new songs within original scores are utilized for shows in this category, from The Sound of Music (Maria von Trapp, 1959) to Gypsy (Gypsy Rose Lee, 1959) to Funny Girl (Fanny Brice, 1964) to Coco (Coco Chanel, 1969) to Mack and Mabel (Mack Sennett and Mabel Normand, 1974) to Evita (Eva Peron, 1979), to Barnum (P.T. Barnum, 1980) to Sunday in the Park with George (George Seurat, 1984) to The Will Rogers Follies (Will Rogers, 1991) to Grey Gardens (Edith Beale and Edie Beale, 2006) to Hamilton (Alexander Hamilton, 2015).
