Ariana Grande and Jonathan Bailey Are Officially Bringing Sunday in the Park With George to the Barbican
The long-rumoured revival is now official, with Ariana Grande and Jonathan Bailey confirmed to star in Stephen Sondheim’s masterpiece at the Barbican in summer 2027.
It’s no longer just an Instagram hint or industry rumour. Sunday in the Park With George is officially coming to the Barbican in summer 2027, with Ariana Grande and Jonathan Bailey confirmed to star.
The long-whispered revival of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Pulitzer Prize-winning musical has now been formally announced by the Barbican, ending months of speculation sparked by a quietly perfect social media moment. Earlier this year, Grande and Bailey shared a photo of themselves sitting in front of Georges Seurat’s A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, captioned with the musical’s quietly devastating line: “All it has to be is good.” Theatre fans did the rest.
Now it’s real.
The new production will be directed by Marianne Elliott, with design by Tom Scutt, and marks a major London return for one of Sondheim’s most revered works. It will also reunite Grande and Bailey on stage following their roles as Glinda and Fiyero in the Wicked film adaptations, and brings Bailey back together with Elliott after their acclaimed collaboration on Company.
First staged on Broadway in 1984, Sunday in the Park With George explores the inner life of artist Georges Seurat as he obsessively creates his pointillist masterpiece, before jumping a century forward to examine creativity, legacy and the cost of making art. The show won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1985 and has since become a touchstone for artists, creatives and theatre-goers alike.
London audiences last saw the musical in 2006, when a Menier Chocolate Factory production transferred to Wyndham’s Theatre and went on to win five Olivier Awards. This Barbican revival marks its first major UK outing in more than two decades and positions the centre as the home for one of the most high-profile theatre events of the decade.
Grande’s return to the stage is also significant. While she began her career in musical theatre, including 13 on Broadway and Hairspray Live!, this will be her most substantial live theatre role in years. Bailey, meanwhile, continues a run of major stage work alongside screen success, following Richard II in 2025 and his earlier West End turns in Company and The Last Five Years.
Tickets will go on sale in May 2026 and will be available exclusively through the Barbican. Given the scale of the casting and the cult status of the show, demand is expected to be intense.
For now, all that’s left is the wait. Or, as Sondheim put it, the work.
Elena Leo is the Arts & Lifestyle Editor of Ikon London Magazine.
