Ariana Grande And Jonathan Bailey Eye Sunday In The Park With George Revival At London’s Barbican In 2027
Ariana Grande and Jonathan Bailey are reportedly planning a major stage reunion, with early plans underway for a revival of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Pulitzer Prize winning musical Sunday in the Park With George.
According to Deadline, the Wicked co stars are in preliminary discussions to lead a new production of the acclaimed musical, which would tentatively open at London’s Barbican Theatre in 2027. The revival is expected to be directed by Marianne Elliott, the multi Tony and Olivier Award winning director behind landmark productions including Company and Angels in America.
Grande and Bailey recently appeared together in the two part cinematic adaptation of Wicked, alongside Cynthia Erivo. Grande starred as Glinda the Good, with Erivo as Elphaba and Bailey as Fiyero, introducing the beloved musical to a global audience and earning widespread acclaim for their performances.
Sunday in the Park With George first premiered on Broadway in 1984 and is inspired by Georges Seurat’s painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. The musical explores the life of a fictionalised Seurat as he creates his masterpiece, alongside a parallel story involving his great grandson, also named George, a modern artist grappling with similar creative struggles.
Grande and Bailey are expected to take on the central roles of Dot and George, originally played by Bernadette Peters and Mandy Patinkin. Deadline’s Baz Bamigboye reports that those involved are cautiously optimistic about the production moving forward, noting that both performers impressed collaborators during early read throughs.
The project would mark a further reunion between Bailey and Elliott, who previously worked together on the acclaimed 2018 gender swapped revival of Company, a performance that earned Bailey an Olivier Award. Long before his screen success in Bridgerton, Fellow Travelers and Jurassic World Rebirth, Bailey established himself as a formidable stage performer, appearing in theatre productions from a young age.
Grande’s career also began on the stage, starring in the Broadway musical 13 before rising to fame on television in Victorious and Sam & Cat. While she went on to become one of the world’s most successful pop artists, her Oscar nominated performance in Wicked firmly re established her as a serious actor.
With a celebrated score by Sondheim, a visionary director at the helm, and two high profile performers at the peak of their powers, the proposed revival of Sunday in the Park With George is already generating significant anticipation. If confirmed, the production is set to become one of the most closely watched theatre events of the decade.
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