{"id":624421,"date":"2026-09-14T14:00:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T14:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/624421\/"},"modified":"2026-09-14T14:00:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T14:00:11","slug":"sunday-in-the-park-with-george-show-axed-after-grande-bailey-exit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/624421\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Sunday in the Park With George’ Show Axed After Grande, Bailey Exit"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe London revival of Stephen Sondheim\u2019s Sunday in the Park With George has been scrapped after Ariana Grande<\/a> and Jonathan Bailey<\/a> both exited the production.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe planned 2027 production of Sunday in the Park With George at the Barbican will no longer proceed as scheduled,\u201d said producers Empire Street Productions in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter on Monday. But the team does retain the rights to the show, and Empire Street is looking to present the production in 2028, they added.<\/p>\n

\n\tWicked co-stars Grande and Bailey had the theater<\/a> world abuzz when they confirmed the revival would take place with director Marianna Elliott at the helm next summer. But things started to go wrong when Grande pulled out as part of her larger decision<\/a>\u00a0to \u201cstep back from visibility\u201d following the end of her recent tour, amid public scrutiny over her health and body. THR reported at the time<\/a> that this came as a surprise to some members of production.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cFollowing this evening\u2019s announcement from Ariana Grande\u2019s team, we can confirm that she has decided to step back from\u00a0Sunday in the Park With George,\u201d Empire Street Productions shared in a statement upon her exit. \u201cWe know this cannot have been an easy decision, and she makes it with our complete understanding and support.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThen, just earlier this month, Bailey also withdrew<\/a>. \u201cAri is one of my dearest friends, and my support for her is unwavering. Marianne is extraordinary and one of my longest collaborators and friends,\u201d the Jurassic World Rebirth star said in a statement on social media. \u201cAfter much consideration, I have decided to also step back from\u00a0Sunday in the Park with George.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter Bailey\u2019s exit, Empire Street said the show was being \u201creshaped\u201d and casting discussions \u201cwere actively underway.\u201d The ticket on-sale dates for\u00a0Sunday in the Park With George\u00a0were pushed back twice, having originally been scheduled for May 2026, then delayed to summer 2026.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe 1984 musical features music and lyrics by Sondheim and a book by James Lapine. Bailey was to play the fictionalized version of French painter Georges Seurat as he creates\u00a0A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, with Dot (Grande), his muse and lover, posing for the painting.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe last major revival of the musical occurred on Broadway in 2017, with Jake Gyllenhaal\u00a0and Annaleigh Ashford. The production was announced to transfer to London, but never crossed the pond due to the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The London revival of Stephen Sondheim\u2019s Sunday in the Park With George has been scrapped after Ariana Grande…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":624422,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[8420,321,93,61,1042,60,8900,16362,303,65773],"class_list":["post-624421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-ariana-grande","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-international","tag-ireland","tag-jonathan-bailey","tag-theater","tag-united-kingdom","tag-west-end"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=624421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624421\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/624422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=624421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=624421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=624421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}