Ariana Grande will no longer appear in the West End revival of Sunday in the Park with George, ending a casting plan that had paired her with Jonathan Bailey in the long-delayed production. Grande will finish the Eternal Sunshine Tour in London on September 1 and then take a step back from visibility.
That timing matters because interest in the revival had already been building around a possible June 2027 opening at the Barbican Theatre, with ticket sales pushed back again to fall 2026 after first being announced for May 2026 and then moved to summer 2026. For readers following the project, the change answers one question fast: the production was waiting on Grande’s schedule, and now it has lost her altogether.
Grande was set to play Dot, while Bailey was to lead as George in the new West End staging. Marianne Elliot is due to direct and Tom Scutt is handling design for the production, which would return Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s musical to London after the show’s earlier life on Broadway and in the West End. The work first premiered on Broadway in 1984, won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama the next year and later picked up five Olivier Awards in the 2005 to 2006 UK revival.
But the casting shift leaves a hole that scheduling alone cannot fill. Auditions for other roles were reportedly taking place this summer, suggesting the production was moving forward around Grande’s calendar, not beyond it. Her exit now means the revival is no longer simply delayed; it is missing the star that helped define the plan in the first place.
The open question is whether the West End revival still goes ahead as envisioned without Grande, or whether the latest change forces another reset. For now, the only firm dates are hers: London on September 1, then a step back from the spotlight.
