Andrew Lloyd Webber reveals his new Mona Lisa musical will be ‘fully open’ in London by next autumn

Andrew Lloyd Webber has completed a new musical centered on the theft of the Mona Lisa, stating that he hopes it will be “fully open” in London “by this time next year,” pointing to a potential opening around September.

Talking to The Independent on their recent podcast, the composer revealed that the project was inspired by a historical feature he read about a year ago in The Ties, which highlighted that “the Mona Lisa wasn’t famous until she was stolen”. Prior to the theft, the painting hung in a poorly viewed location at the Louvre Museum in Paris, with scholars regarding it as an “okay” Leonardo da Vinci work. The museum did not even notice the artwork was missing for two days.

The heist was carried out by an Italian workman who originally set out to reclaim an Italian artwork stolen by Napoleon Bonaparte and bring it back to Italy. However, after realizing he “couldn’t fit” the larger painting he intended to take under his coat to carry out of the Louvre, he took the Mona Lisa “by mistake” instead. The subsequent media fallout and calls that “you’ve got to get this one back” ultimately established the painting’s widespread fame.

Lloyd Webber confirmed the musical’s score features a mix of “Italian arias” and “Parisian harmonies,” while teasing that the portrait herself plays an active role in the show: “Mona, I have to say, has quite a lot to say about life. She’s not a blushing flower when she’s out of that frame, because he had to take her out of the frame, so she comes out of the frame all right”.

Reflecting on the wider mechanics of musical theatre writing, the composer emphasised the importance of storytelling over score alone, stating that “a good story is important” and noting that “a good story can carry an okay score,” but “a great score can’t work, however good it is, with a not very good story”.

He also revealed that he almost came close to working with Stephen Sondheim about a project based on the story of Leoncavallo and Puccini racing to write La bohéme. 

Lloyd Webber has just celebrated the 40th anniversary of Phantom of the Opera at His Majesty’s Theatre in the West End.