The highly anticipated London revival of Sunday in the Park With George has taken an unexpected turn after its two headline stars departed the production. Ariana Grande and Jonathan Bailey were set to bring the Sondheim classic to the Barbican in 2027, making the casting one of the revival’s biggest draws. With both stars now gone, the production’s future has shifted dramatically, leaving producers with a much bigger decision than simply finding replacements. 

There is a particular irony to the timing. The production was originally being positioned as a rare live reunion for the two Wicked stars, with the Barbican expecting their screen chemistry to translate into the very different language of Sondheim.

The London revival of Sunday in the Park With George has now been canceled for 2027 after Ariana Grande and Jonathan Bailey both exited the production. Ariana Grande was originally set to play both Dot and Marie, while Jonathan Bailey was announced as George Seurat, the fictionalized version of the French painter whose work inspired the musical. The production, directed by Marianne Elliott with designs by Tom Scutt, was announced in January as a major 2027 Barbican event. 

“The planned 2027 production of Sunday in the Park with George at the Barbican will no longer proceed as scheduled,” a rep for producers Empire Street Productions shared with Variety. 

As Variety reports, Grande withdrew in August after announcing plans to step back from public-facing work following her Eternal Sunshine tour. Her representative described the decision as a response to ongoing public scrutiny, while Grande later emphasized that the break had been planned thoughtfully rather than made impulsively. 

At first, that looked like a casting problem rather than a production-ending one. Bailey was still attached, and the creative team planned to continue toward the summer 2027 opening with Grande’s roles recast. Then Bailey announced his own departure in September, removing the other half of the production’s headline pairing. 

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That second exit changed the calculation. Recasting Dot and George separately was one thing; rebuilding a production that had been marketed around two Wicked stars was another.

The cancellation does not mean Sunday in the Park With George is disappearing from London altogether. According to the report, Empire Street Productions will retain the rights with the intention of presenting the production in 2028, although further details have yet to be announced. That matters because this is not simply a star vehicle that can be shelved and forgotten. 

Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s musical has a formidable theatrical pedigree. The play premiered on Broadway in 1984 with Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters and drew its visual world from Georges Seurat’s A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. The 2027 production had also become unusually entangled with the calendar. Ticket sales had already been pushed from May to autumn 2026 so Ariana Grande could complete her tour, meaning the revival was already operating on a carefully managed timeline. 

Now, instead of wondering which actors would replace Grande and Bailey, audiences are waiting to see whether the entire production will return in its intended form in 2028. For a musical about artists trying to create something lasting from a shifting world, that is an unexpectedly Sondheim-esque turn of events.

For now, Sunday in the Park With George is not over. It is simply taking a much longer route to the stage.

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What do you think about the cancellation and the decision to aim for 2028? Share your thoughts in the comments.