West End show officially cancelled after Jonathan Bailey and Ariana Grande drop out

A West End revival that Ariana Grande and Jonathan Bailey were originally set to feature in has been cancelled after both actors pulled out of the production.

The Wicked stars had been due to reunite on stage in a revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George at London’s Barbican in 2027, directed by Marianne Elliott.

But the production will no longer go ahead as planned after both stars withdrew from the show.

Grande announced in August that she was pulling out and taking a break from the spotlight, although production company Empire Street Productions initially insisted the musical would continue.

Earlier this month, Bailey also confirmed he was leaving the production, with the company at the time stressing that ‘work on the production continues’.

However, on Monday it was announced that the show would no longer be staged at the Barbican next year.

A statement from Empire Street Productions 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 is inspired by Georges Seurat’s famous painting A Sunday Afternoon On The Island Of La Grande Jatte.

It follows a fictionalised version of the French artist as he works to complete the painting, while exploring his relationship with his lover and muse, Dot, as well as the challenges of balancing life and art.

The planned revival would have marked a highly anticipated reunion for Grande and Bailey, who starred together in the blockbuster Wicked films.

It is not the first time the musical has faced a major delay in London.

A previous attempt to revive Sunday in the Park with George, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Annaleigh Ashford, was postponed indefinitely in 2021 amid the Covid pandemic.