Ariana Grande and Jonathan Bailey Will Star in 'Sunday in the Park with George'

Ariana Grande and Jonathan Bailey have been confirmed to star in a new revival of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Pulitzer Prize-winning musical Sunday in the Park with George, set to open at London's Barbican Centre in summer 2027.

The announcement came on January 14, 2026, via the official production Instagram account, following rumors reported by Deadline the previous month. Prior to the official reveal, Grande and Bailey shared a joint Instagram post of themselves gazing at Georges Seurat's painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, captioned with the lyric "All it has to be is good"from the show's opening number.

Bailey will portray the artist Georges Seurat, while Grande will play his muse and lover Dot. The production is directed by Marianne Elliott, a Tony and Olivier Award winner known for her work on the gender-swapped West End revival of Company, in which Bailey starred as Jamie and won an Olivier Award for his performance of "Getting Married Today." Tony Award winner Tom Scutt, who also collaborated with Elliott and Bailey on Company, will design the sets.

This marks a theatrical reunion for Grande and Bailey, who recently co-starred as Glinda and Fiyero in the blockbuster films Wicked and Wicked: For Good. For openly gay actor Jonathan Bailey, the role continues his storied theater career, which includes early performances with the Royal Shakespeare Company as a child, roles in Les Misérables, Othello, The York Realist, c*ck, Richard II, and the 2016 London revival of The Last Five Years. Grande, who made her Broadway debut at age 15 in 13: The Musical and appeared in the 2016 NBC Hairspray live telecast, returns to the stage after years focused on pop music and film.

Sunday in the Park with George, which premiered on Broadway in 1984 with Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters, explores Seurat's obsessive creation of his masterpiece A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, spanning generations as his choices impact those around him, including Dot. The musical earned the 1985 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, two Tony Awards, and multiple Drama Desk Awards, with notable revivals in 2005-2006 in London , 2008 and 2017 on Broadway . A planned 2020 London transfer of the 2017 Broadway revival was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Produced by Empire Street Productions in association with the Barbican, the show builds excitement in theater communities, particularly among LGBTQ+ audiences who have long celebrated Sondheim's innovative works and Bailey's trailblazing performances in queer-affirming productions like Company. Tickets will be available exclusively through the Barbican website and box office starting in May 2026, with more details at SundayIntheParkMusical. com. The casting draws global attention, highlighting theater's enduring appeal and the visibility of LGBTQ+ talents like Bailey in major West End revivals.