“It’s my first love,” Jonathan Groff tells The Hollywood Reporter, on why he returned to Broadway so soon after winning his first Tony Award for Merrily We Roll Along last year.

Now, Groff has received his fourth Tony nomination for playing singer-actor Bobby Darin in the jukebox musical, Just in Time. He has previously been nominated for his work in Hamilton and Spring Awakening. But this time, the experience is “unlike anything” before, as he’s been involved with the project for the last eight years and has learned how to embody the moves and persona of the legendary singer.

And the Mindhunter star is having a lot of fun doing it. At the top of the show, he introduces himself to the crowd as himself, which was Groff’s idea, and even warns the crowd that he might spit on them while singing, poking fun at his saliva-based singing quirk that’s become a running joke over the years.

This year’s best performance by an actor in a leading role category is also nostalgic because Groff is nominated alongside his former Glee co-star Darren Criss (Maybe Happy Ending), which he says is “surreal” and the “great gift of longevity with your peers.”

Below, Groff tells THR about how he got in the best shape of his life by prepping for the show, his most memorable crowd interaction and how he creates the “magic that happens between performer and audience.”

This is your fourth nomination. What does this one in particular mean to you?

I’ve never before been involved in a project from the conception. So, eight years ago, my friend Ted Chapin asked me to do a night of Bobby Darin music at the 92nd Street Y, and we’ve been developing the show ever since then. So to be nominated for this and for the show itself, to get six nominations after working on it for eight years, is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.

After Merrily We Roll Along, why did you want to return to Broadway so soon instead of taking a well-deserved break or focusing more on film or TV?

(Laughs.) I love the theater, is the simple answer to that question. I just I love doing it so much. It’s my first love. I didn’t anticipate that the timing would work out. We’ve been trying to make the Bobby Darin musical happen for so many years that I never anticipated it would happen, timing-wise, like this. But there is an inertia and an energy and an acceleration to the vibe of Bobby Darin that it ultimately felt like the right thing. What’s crazy is, the day after the Tonys last year, which is the last time you and I spoke, the next day, I went with our producers and Alex Timbers, our director, and Shannon, our choreographer, and Andrew, our music supervisor, to the Circle in the Square to do a site visit for the show. This is just the way it worked out, honestly. It was not something that I intentionally planned or scheduled on purpose. It just sort of shook out this way.

What do you appreciate about playing someone who was actually alive? And how is this experience different from some other roles you’ve done?

Over the last eight years, I have become such a deep, deep Bobby Darin fan. By all accounts, he was this Oscar-nominated actor and this Grammy-winning recording artist and prolific songwriter and producer, but everyone says he was at the height of his powers when he was at the center of a nightclub floor working the audience. So the most important thing for me, as I was doing the research on him, and for all of us as we were putting the show together, was to honor the spirit of that, of that energy, of that magic that happens between performer and audience. And this was the jumping off point for this conceit of our show that we turn Circle in the Square into a nightclub and where we’ve got tables on the floor level that you can reach out and touch the performers from where you’re sitting, because that’s what it was like when Bobby was at the Copa.

Also, this conceit that I start the show as myself, so I establish this relationship between myself and the audience in the present moment, and give everybody the sense that like, let’s all be here now together and travel back in time with each other to experience the story of Bobby Darin, while never losing that invisible thread between performer and audience that makes you feel when you’re an audience member and as a performer like anything can happen on any given night, it’s always different. So in playing Bobby Darin, that energy felt like the most essential thing to bring spiritually into the theater.

I also took piano lessons. He was a prolific artist in so many ways. He played seven instruments in the show. I played the piano, I played the drums. I have been trying to embody him as much as possible physically as well, in addition to playing the instruments and then working with the writers Warren Leight and Isaac Oliver. There’s so much story in his life. You could do a whole TV series about him. He has many books written about him, and so much went on in his life, so [it was about] trying to distill his story down to the most essential beats to really honor and celebrate who he was.

You mentioned you’re yourself at the beginning of the show. And you do introduce yourself by saying, “Hi, I’m Jonathan Groff,” before devolving into Bobby Darin. Whose idea was that and what do you think it brings to the show?

Yeah, I asked from the beginning if I could do that. It felt like the opportunity to tell the story of Bobby Darin’s life in front of a live audience, that’s where he was, at the height of his powers. That is the place to tell his story. Even removing the artifice of character at the very beginning and really establishing this connection between performer and audience was the most effective way to celebrate what he did to a room when he was in it. So I wanted to start the show as myself, and we spent years trying to figure out how we would make that work and how we would it. And really, it wasn’t until our co-book writer Isaac Oliver came on board, because it’s one thing for me to be myself at the top, but someone needs to write that. (Laughs.) A talented writer needs to articulate that. You don’t want to just see me talking out my mouth at the beginning of the show. It’s actually quite specifically constructed. What I say, how I say it and how I transitioned then into becoming Bobby Darin took a lot of writing and a lot of tries. [Oliver] really cracked the code with this opening monologue that he offered over the summer when we were doing a workshop as well as with this monologue at the end that I also delivered to the audience as myself, once the show is over, as sort of bookends of the experience. That was Isaac’s idea. I think it really honors the spirit of who he was as one of the greatest entertainers of all time.

You do a lot of dancing, which requires a lot of stamina. How did you prepare for that? And is it still challenging?

Shannon Lewis, our amazing choreographer, she [worked with] me three times a week for 10 weeks before the first day of rehearsal. We were in the studio, and she taught me her physical warm-up, which is a 30-minute warm-up, which I still do every day before the show, to get my body ready. It’s like training for a marathon physically, this role, and I’m learning a lot about my body, and I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been in my whole life. (Laughs.) And like you said, it’s a daily, I would say it’s a daily practice to check in with your body, find out where it is. I’ve like become friends with our physical therapist at the theater (laughs) who helps me with issues and small injuries as they come up. But it’s like being an athlete, kind of, you know, you have to really take care of yourself. I’ve learned in the last, like, two months that cross-training is really essential for me. Earlier today, I was at the gym doing light weight lifting in order to counterbalance the repetitive motions I do every night while we’re dancing. It’s a real discipline.

You acknowledge that part of the audience may be hit with spit during the performance. What went into that decision to mention that?

Yes! (Laughs) This is the brilliance of Isaac, our co-book writer. He really cracked the code with that one. It’s an interesting experiment to play one’s own self (laughs), and he really helped. He did many things and wrote many amazing parts of the show, as did Warren, who gave so much to the show in so many different ways. But one of the contributions that Isaac made was finding the sweet spot of me, sort of like taking the piss out of myself and declaring who I was at the same time. I’m so grateful that he wrote me in the way that he wrote me. That was all his genius.

People online have noticed that you do spit a bit when you sing, what do you make of the attention that it’s gotten?

It’s funny, it started with back in the days of Spring Awakening. People used to ask if I would spit in their programs after the show, because I had spit on them on stage. And then years later, when the Disney+ version of Hamilton came out, and I was playing King George, and I was spitting kind of on myself, like, drool, like it was coming down my face, that became a whole thing. And then last year, during Merrily, Dan [Radcliffe] and Lindsay [Mendez] and I were joking and laughing about it a lot on the press tour. At this point, there’s nothing I can do about it. I’m just sort of letting it happen at this point. Fortunately, all of my fellow actors that I’ve been on stage with are incredibly patient and like loving with me about that, and they don’t make me feel too bad about it.

What’s been your most memorable dance and crowd member interaction so far?

Good question. Oh my gosh, it’s really fascinating because we’re learning with these audiences that it’s quite multigenerational. It’s really like eight year olds and 80 year olds are both enjoying the show in equal measure. A couple of performances ago, this probably eight-year-old girl was in the front row, and I noticed her at the very beginning. I was sort of like winking at her and smiling at her, and you could tell she felt a little scared or a little nervous, and so I was trying to make her feel relaxed throughout the show and smiling at her. And then at the very end, I reached out my hand to ask her to dance, and she lit up like a light bulb. Her face got so excited, and she took my hand and immediately started spinning around in circles. I wanted to cry. It was so cute.

Have you found any similarities between you and Bobby that helped you to understand and connect with him?

There’s this line I have at the end of the show when it’s like in the middle of the very final song that I sing, called “The Curtain Falls,” which was his famous closing song in his act at the end of his career. And I say, “doing this,” meaning connecting with the audience in this way, “Doing this was when he felt the most alive.” And then I say, “honestly, same,” (laughs) that’s the next line. And I really feel that connection with him. This great, deep, profound, primal passion for performing and for sharing that experience with the artists on stage, the cast and the band, and sharing that with the audience, is one of my favorite things in in my whole life. I just I love it so much. That love, I would say, is the thing that I have the most in common with him.

This year you’re also nominated alongside your former Glee co-star Darren Criss. What does it mean to you that you’re both nominated for Tonys in the same category?

It’s so awesome. It’s so surreal. I remember him making his debut on that show, and creating such a sensation, and being such a like fresh, new, exciting talent, and to now see him be a real like, I mean, he’s done many Broadway shows. I saw him do Hedwig [and the Angry Inch]. He was one of the replacements in Little Shop of Horrors. I saw him in Maybe Happy Ending, he’s exceptional in it. This is the great gift of longevity with your peers, is that we get to go through all these experiences together. Lea Michele came to opening night, and brought her four-year-old son a week and a half later, and he was sitting on the aisle, beaming. It’s a gift to be able to go through life and share these experiences with your friends. It’s incredibly special.

Looking back on your time on Glee, that show made so many more people knowledgeable about theater and made it accessible to people who don’t have the opportunity to come to New York to see Broadway shows. Have you found that to be true, or have you heard of Glee fans who became interested in musical theater through the show?

Yeah. Oh my gosh. Well, Gracie Lawrence, who is Tony nominated in our show, playing the role of Connie Francis and is a supernova talent. She told me during rehearsal, she was like, “Oh my gosh, Jonathan, I can’t believe I’m doing a musical on Broadway with you, because I used to come home after high school and watch you on Glee and now we’re singing together duets on a Broadway stage show. So it’s an example of a former Gleek that now we’re co-starring in a Broadway musical together. It’s so cool.

We’re coming up on the 20th anniversary of Spring Awakening. Reflecting on all that’s happened in your career since, what would you tell your younger self?

I did that when I was 20 years old, and I guess the short answer is, I would tell him to keep following his passion and the thing that makes your heart race. Once you’re doing that, once you’re locked in with that, it doesn’t matter if it’s a success or a failure, because I’ve had both of those experiences throughout the years, highs and lows. But when I’m in touch with what is making my pulse race and what I get excited about, just personally, outside of anyone’s perception of what might be good or bad, but just for my own self, the things that make me excited, that’s when I’m my happiest. That’s how I feel inside of Just in Time. I love Bobby Darin, and I love this experience so much. And getting the chance to live inside of his music and his life, it’s pure joy.

Just in Time is playing at the Circle in the Square Theatre.