Hot on the heels of the hugely successful Broadway opening of Cats: The Jellicle Ball, Andrew Lloyd Webber has confirmed he is beginning work on a new musical based on one of history’s most audacious crimes: the theft of the Mona Lisa.
Speaking in a newly released interview with Frank DiLella, the legendary composer revealed that he is set to begin the writing process.
“The other one that I’m doing is the true story of the theft of the Mona Lisa,” Lloyd Webber revealed. “It’s a true story about how the Mona Lisa disappeared for three years, roughly about 1910, and ended up in Italy.”
The “Patriotic” Heist
The musical will dramatise the true story of Vincenzo Peruggia, a Louvre employee and Italian patriot who stole Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece in 1911. Peruggia famously spent two years hiding the painting in a false-bottomed trunk in his Paris apartment, convinced that the work belonged in its Italian homeland rather than France.
The painting’s eventual recovery in 1914 made international headlines and cemented its status as the most famous portrait in the world.
When pressed for more details on the project’s development, Lloyd Webber remained tight-lipped but eager to get started: “More than that, I cannot really tell you, for the simple reason that I’m going away next week to write it.”
The Lloyd Webber Harrison Partnership
This new project is expected to fall under the banner of Lloyd Webber Harrison Musicals, the composer’s joint venture with powerhouse producer Michael Harrison.
Since forming in 2022, the partnership has been an unstoppable force in the West End, on tour, and on Broadway, with hits including the multi-award-winning Jamie Lloyd directed Sunset Boulevard, current London show Starlight Express, and the forthcoming London run and UK tour of CATS.
This new heist musical would mark the second original work in the pipeline for Lloyd Webber Harrison Musicals, alongside the previously announced The Illusionist.
Lloyd Webber’s busy schedule
While Lloyd Webber starts writing his new Mona Lisa project, his shows remain a force in London, New York and beyond. Here’s a look at current and forthcoming projects:
- Starlight Express: Now in its final weeks at the Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre in London, until 3 May 2026
- Cats: Returning to London at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre this summer from 25 July 2026
- The Phantom of the Opera: Celebrating 40 years at the West End’s His Majesty’s Theatre this autumn
- Jesus Christ Superstar: The hit Regent’s Park production is getting a glow-up for a summer run at the London Palladium, starring Sam Ryder
- Masquerade: Phantom of the Opera immersive spin-off continues to extend its run in New York
- Cats: The Jellicle Ball: Following an off-Broadway run, this new New York ballroom scene-set production has just scored rave reviews from the critics, and the gossip is it will also come to London
- The Illusionist: Lloyd Webber’s brand new show, based on the book and film, is meant to open in London in September 2026, although that is looking ambitious
- Evita: Jamie Lloyd’s megahit revival of Evita last summer starring Rachel Zegler is still on the cards for Broadway, although there’s no official news on where or when
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