Sunday in the Park with George producers cancel 2027 run though retain rights

Art isn’t easy…

Producers of the upcoming production of Sunday in the Park with George have issued a fresh statement following the departures of stars Ariana Grande and Jonathan Bailey from the revival.

In a statement, the production team said: “The planned 2027 production of Sunday in the Park with George at the Barbican will no longer proceed as scheduled. Empire Street Productions will retain the rights with a view to presenting the production in 2028. Further details will be announced in due course.”

The musical features music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by James Lapine, and is loosely based on the life of renowned painter Georges Seurat, responsible for large-scale work A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. It has not had a major London production in almost two decades, though a West End production had been slated for 2020. That was cancelled due to the pandemic lockdowns.

The new production had been set to be directed by Marianne Elliott, with design by the award-winning Tom Scutt. Scutt has recently won acclaim for his work on another Sondheim musical, Into the Woods, while Elliott’s Company was the toast of the West End and Broadway.

Both have busy slates – Scutt’s Woods work will soon be seen at the Nöel Coward Theatre in the West End, while Elliott is directing a new production of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? with Gillian Anderson and Billy Crudup. Next year she’ll also co-direct West Side Story at the National Theatre.