West End Sunday in the Park With George Officially Canceled After Jonathan Bailey and Ariana Grande Depart

Art isn’t easy…

Producers of the beleaguered London Sunday in the Park with George revival have officially put its 2027 opening on hold, following the separate departures of stars Ariana Grande and Jonathan Bailey.

In a statement, the production team said: “The planned 2027 production of Sunday in the Park with George at the Barbican will no longer proceed as scheduled. Empire Street Productions will retain the rights with a view to presenting the production in 2028. Further details will be announced in due course.”

The musical features music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by James Lapine, and is loosely based on the life of renowned painter Georges Seurat, responsible for large-scale work A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. It has not had a major London production in almost two decades, though a West End production had been slated for 2020. That was cancelled due to the pandemic lockdowns.

The new production had been set to be directed by Marianne Elliott, with design by the award-winning Tom Scutt. Scutt has recently won acclaim for his work on another Sondheim musical, Into the Woods, while Elliott’s Company was the toast of the West End and Broadway. Bailey and Grande had been set to play Georges and Dot.