The London revival of “Sunday in the Park With George” has been canceled following the exits of stars Ariana Grande and Jonathan Bailey. Further details will be announced in due course.” The revival of Stephen Sondheim’s beloved musical was set to debut at London’s Barbican Centre next summer. The show was first announced in January, offering “Wicked” fans a rare opportunity to see two of the film’s stars perform together live on stage.
Grande was due to play both Dot and Marie while Bailey was billed to star opposite as George Seurat. The musical takes the name from the French artist’s famous painting, “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.” The show first debuted in 1983 off Broafway and the last major revival was on Broadway in 2017, with Annaleigh Ashford and Jake Gyllenhaal in the leading roles. Tickets for the London show were supposed to go on sale in May, but with producers anticipating enormours demand, this was pushed back to September to coincide with the end of Grande’s “Eternal Sunshine” tour.
Last month, however, Grande announced she would be “taking a step back from visibility” after the conclusion of the tour — which included exiting the London stage show — following “ongoing public scrutiny” of her health. Bailey then announced earlier this month he too was dropping out. With auditions for the show taking place this summer, fans had hoped producers might simply swap in too equally well-known or seasoned stage performers for the parts of Dot/Marie and George, especially after Bailey said in a statement: “I so look forward to seeing what the two actors who will now take on these roles will create with it.” Now it looks like Bailey – and the fans – will have to wait a bit longer to see Sondheim’s 1983 musical in London.
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