Florida (GNP): Ariana Grande has announced that she will pause public-facing work once her current tour concludes, citing the strain of continuous public scrutiny. As part of that decision, she is withdrawing from the upcoming London revival of Stephen Sondheim’s musical Sunday in the Park With George, in which she had been set to reunite with her Wicked co-star Jonathan Bailey at the Barbican in 2027.
A representative told People that Grande intends to finish the Eternal Sunshine Tour on a positive note before stepping away from public appearances, a step prompted by the sustained attention she has faced. The representative added that the tour itself had been a rewarding experience for her, shaped by her connection with fans throughout its run.
The production company behind the Sondheim revival, Empire Street Productions, confirmed Grande’s exit from the show in a statement to the Press Association, saying it understood and supported her decision and wished her well. The company said the musical would proceed as planned, opening at the Barbican in summer 2027, with her role to be recast and new casting details announced later.
First staged on Broadway in 1984 with Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters, the musical draws on Georges Seurat’s painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte and follows the artist’s relationship with his muse as he works to complete it.
The announcement follows the release of the video for Petal, the title track from Grande’s newly released eighth studio album, which drew public speculation about her weight and health. One track on the album, As I Do, has been read as an indirect response to years of media commentary about her body.
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The scrutiny is not new for Grande, who became visibly emotional in a 2024 interview describing the pressure to maintain a certain appearance since her teenage years, saying that criticism aimed at her had shifted over time even as she tried to address it.
She spoke then about the difficulty of shielding herself from constant commentary on her appearance and warned that such scrutiny could be harmful to everyone involved. She resurfaced that interview on social media in November as a message to others facing similar pressure.
Grande’s Eternal Sunshine Tour is set to reach the UK in August for a 10-night run at the O2, concluding with a final London show on 1 September that will mark the end of the tour overall. Her career took off in 2013 following the release of her debut album Yours Truly, after early fame playing Cat Valentine on the Nickelodeon series Victorious and Sam & Cat. She has since won three Grammy awards and earned an Oscar nomination for playing Glinda in the film adaptation of Wicked.
