BOBBY DARIN & CONNIE FRANCIS The Love That Got Away

THEY FELL HARD FOR EACH OTHER AS YOUNG PERFORMERS, BUT FATE WOULDN'T LET THEM STAY TOGETHER

- Louise A. Barile

The star-crossed love of Bobby Darin and Connie Francis is coming to Broadway this spring. Just in Time, a new musical which opens April 23, tells the story of the "Mack the Knife" singer's meteoric rise and untimely death at age 37. It stars Tony-winner Jonathan Groff as Bobby and Gracie Lawrence, a star of The Sex Lives of College Girls, as Connie.

In 1956, Bobby met Connie as a young songwriter. The pair quickly recognized a similar fire to succeed in each other. "Bobby was determined to make it before he was 25," Connie, 87, tells Closer. "He was the smartest man I ever met. He could talk about anything - poetry, philosophy, politics, history."