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NEED TO KNOW
- The musical Sunday in the Park with George, by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine, made its Broadway debut in 1984
- Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters starred as George and Dot in the original production; Jake Gyllenhaal and Annaleigh Ashford later took on the roles
- Wicked costars Ariana Grande and Jonathan Bailey will appear in a West End revival in 2027
More than 40 years after its Broadway premiere, actors are still “Putting It Together” in Sunday in the Park with George.
Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Pulitzer Prize–winning musical first debuted on the Great White Way in 1984, starring Mandy Patinkin as painter Georges Seurat, and Bernadette Peters as Seurat’s lover and muse, Dot.
In the decades since its original run, the musical has been revived multiple times, most recently in a 2017 production starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Annaleigh Ashford.
Now, a new pair of actors will try “Finishing the Hat,” with the news that Wicked costars Ariana Grande and Jonathan Bailey will be starring in a 2027 revival of the musical.
In December 2025, Deadline first reported the production was in development, and on Jan. 14, Grande and Bailey confirmed their casting, sharing a joint Instagram post, featuring a photo of them sitting in front of Seurat’s iconic painting “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte” at The Art Institute of Chicago.
“All it has to be is good,” they captioned the post, quoting a line from the musical’s title song.
So, with a new revival hitting the stage, here’s a look back at some of the actors who have played Georges Seurat and Dot in Sunday in the Park with George.
George: Mandy Patinkin, Jake Gyllenhaal and Jonathan Bailey
Showtime/ Courtesy Everett Collection; Walter McBride/WireImage; Wendell Teodoro/Getty
Multiple actors have picked up the paintbrush to play Post-Impressionist artist Georges Seurat.
Patinkin originated the role in the 1984 Broadway production, leading him to a Tony nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical.
After actor Daniel Evans starred as the painter in the 2008 Broadway revival, Gyllenhaal brought Seurat to the stage for the 2017 revival, marking his Broadway musical debut.
“It’s so nice to get to express myself through music, I always have in my family and I did growing up as a child throughout school,” Gyllenhaal told PEOPLE about showing his musical side in the production. “I had so much wonderful luck as an actor in films that how can you not move in that direction when the opportunities are there?”
“But truly my love, my heart has always been in singing, particularly in the musical space,” he added. “And so it’s really nice to do it finally and now people go like, ‘Oh, I guess he can do it, okay.’ ”
Wicked and Bridgerton star Bailey will be the next actor to take up Seurat’s easel. He is set to star in the 2027 West End production of Sunday in the Park with George, alongside his Wicked costar, Grande.
Not only will Bailey be reuniting with Grande, but he will also be collaborating again with Marianne Elliott, who is expected to direct the 2027 production. The Tony and Olivier Award winner directed the gender-swapped revival of Company, which Bailey won an Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical in 2019.
Dot: Bernadette Peters, Annaleigh Ashford and Ariana Grande
Martha Swope Courtesy Everett Collection; Walter McBride/WireImage; Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty
Broadway legend Peters originated the role of Dot in the 1984 production of Sunday in the Park with George. Her performance earned her a Tony nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical.
In 2008, a revival starring Jenna Russell as Dot premiered on Broadway, followed by another revival production in 2017, starring Ashford in the role.
Producers opted against making the limited run eligible for that year’s Tonys, a decision Ashford spoke about in a March 2017 CBS News interview, saying the show was about the “art of making art.”
“There’s a line in the show that sums it all up perfectly and beautifully. We talk about the art of making art, and this is truly the art of making art,” she said. “It’s what it’s about. It’s about nothing more and nothing less.”
Ten years since the most recent revival of the musical, Grande is set to take the stage as Dot on London’s West End in 2027. The Wicked star is an Oscar nominee and major pop star, but she began her career on Broadway in 2008, in the musical 13.
Sunday in the Park with George will mark Grande’s first stage role in nearly 20 years, and her first time performing on the West End. Outside of Wicked and Wicked: For Good, the Eternal Sunshine singer also appeared in another musical, 2016’s Hairspray Live!.
