Video: Jonathan Groff Loves Bringing Bobby Darin to the Laps of Broadway Audiences

Oh my gosh. We've been working on this show for eight years and to wake up Tony nomination morning

and get six Tony nominations for the show was freaking incredible. It means so much

I've never been a part of a show from its inception and so this has really been such a

such a a long road and so many different development twists and turns and it's just

been such an epic journey. So it feels really sweet to be here

in this moment. Because we all went from like a meet and greet, you went to tech

you went to previews at the theater, you opened, and now you're sitting in a Tony chair. I know. Incredible

I've never also been in a Broadway show that opens in the spring. Normally we'd open

in the fall, or in the ones that I've done, and then you build up to this moment

But to open, and then you're like, boom! Here we are in this. It's awesome

You bring so much joy this whole show does but the audience is with you you're with the audience I mean what is that like

it's incredible so when we were developing the show in the early years we were doing a lot of

research on Bobby Darin and you know he's this this Grammy winning recording star Oscar nominated

actor movie star producer he's prolific but he was at the height of his powers at the center of

a nightclub floor by all accounts. And so we wanted to create a space that felt like our dream

of the Copacabana, which means that we are performing the show in the laps of the audience

So thinking of that conceit and all of that and dreaming that up and watching what the design

the day I walked into the circle in the square and saw Derek said, I cried because it was more

than I could have ever imagined it being. And then now the experience of actually, it feels like it's

taken eight years to get the show to the audience This is who it always been for And to have that experience of like last night for example there was a woman sitting at the table who crying during just in time This music means so much to people Bobby Darin

Connie Francis, Sandra Dee, these people mean so much to a certain generation of people. And it's

a spiritual experience in that theater bringing this show to the audience

It's nonstop for you. And the dancing you get to do in this show too

Yeah, Shannon Lewis, our phenomenal choreographer. She's done 10 Broadway shows as a dancer

This is her Broadway debut as a choreographer, and she helped me

I mean, she's made incredible choreography in the show, and in addition to that, 10 weeks before the first day of rehearsal

we're in the studio three times a week training to get my body ready to be able to withstand eight shows a week

And yeah, I just, I've always wanted to dance on Broadway and she made my dream come true

Because the stamina you must have to use for this show. I mean, you start the show and you just go straight through until you're taking your bow

Yeah, it's a dream. I like, honestly, it's my, it's my dream state

I love, I love being out there. I love performing. I, I, I just like, I get, I, it, it, it gives more than it takes for me

I sleep really well at night. When I go to bed, I'm like, I slept 12 hours on our last night off

I was like, whoa, I guess my body is tired. But I love it so much that my body kind of like, I just get amped

Yeah, I just love it. When they pinned you today, do you remember what you were thinking

Well, Jenny T pinned me. So Jenny T, my dear friend, first and foremost

But we've worked together as a publicist for the last 10 years

and so she's seen me through a couple of these and I just love her so much

so it meant so much to share it with her