Jonathan Bailey and Ariana Grande in SITPWG? — Page 8

For me, Ms. Grande isn't a loss here; Mr. Bailey was and remains the only draw, and I feel certain that they'll be able to find a suitable replacement for Dot if they choose to do so. However, I pray to the theatre gods that it won't be Cynthia Erivo.

I would love to see Eva Noblezada take on Sondheim for the first time. She and Bailey could be a pretty exciting pairing.

Jeffrey Karasarides said: "What about Jessie Buckley for Dot?"

Ditto! Or Ashley Park or Micaela Diamond.

'Sunday in the Park with George' Will Still Launch in Summer 2027

https://variety.com/2026/theater/global/sunday-in-the-park-with-george-summer-2027-launch-1236826224/?

I have no doubts this production will go ahead next summer as planned. Marianne, Empire Street and Jonathan Bailey were in development with this production for a year before Ariana became attached.

I keep seeing posts and articles referring to it as a West End production. I guess some people call all theatre in London “West End”, but it’s not, the Barbican is a state-funded arts venue in East London. They do crowd pleasing commercial shows as a hire venue but they also programme a lot of “challenging” productions. For example some of the productions I’ve seen in that auditorium include a 6-hour radical interpretation of three Shakespeare plays mashed together performed entirely in Dutch, an avant garde performance piece about the replica Chinese art market and the nature of the Real, and a Royal Shakespeare Company transfer.

This production was rumoured to have been developed with a Broadway transfer in mind and for that they’ll need names, but not for a run at the Barbican. I’m not even sure the Barbican could handle a celebrity has huge as Ariana Grande, they could barely handle David Tennant.



Must be a huge relief to everyone involved that AG made the decision to leave before tickets went on sale.

Tennant would be brilliant, but he's sort of aged out of it.

I want to see Micaela Diamond opposite Bailey.

Anyway, am I mistaken, or did people sign up for subscriptions to get early access to this? Are they refunding people who were only interested in Grande if that's the case?

Coulda shoulda woulda…

She could do Act II…

SisterGeorge said: "No replacement-casting speculation in this thread can top the announcement on another site that LAINIE KAZAN has been selected to replace Ari."

Fiona Apple: “What makes me unhealthy and puts me in danger is that kind of scrutiny itself.”

Excellent point.