The West End stage will have to wait a little longer for Ariana Grande‘s debut as she exits next summer’s Sunday in the Park with George revival.
As the 3x Grammy winner wraps up her Eternal Sunshine Tour this summer, Deadline can confirm that she is following it up with a “much-deserved break” and will not appear in the Marianne Elliott-directed Stephen Sondheim musical, in which she was supposed to reunite with Wicked co-star Jonathan Bailey.
“Ariana will be taking a step back from visibility after she completes the Eternal Sunshine Tour,” a rep for Grande tells Deadline.
“She looks forward to finishing the tour and ending it on a high note, both healthily and happily and then taking a much-deserved break from public facing work and appearances which has lead to endless, ongoing public scrutiny. This tour has been a beautiful experience for her. She loves her fans and has loved every minute of this tour so much.”
The announcement comes after Grande released the music video for “Petal”, the title single from her newly released eighth studio album, sparking speculation about her physical health.
Part of Grande’s break includes Sunday in the Park, but a source noted she “cannot wait to support the brilliant team bringing this project to life.”
Last December, Deadline’s Baz Bamigboye reported that Grande and Bailey were thinking of re-teaming on a production of Sunday in the Park with George, with Empire Street Productions and London’s Barbican Centre confirming the next month that they’d be staging the musical with the pair, set for a summer 2027 opening.
The show’s producers were previously holding off on ticket sales until after Grande’s tour concludes on Sept. 1 at London’s O2 Arena.
Last month, Deadline confirmed that Grande will no longer appear in Season 13 of American Horror Story due to scheduling conficts with the 41-show tour that kicked off June 6 in Oakland, California.
