Andrew Lloyd Webber has finished his musical about the 1911 theft of the Mona Lisa, and he hopes to have it playing in London by this time next year.
Andrew Lloyd Webber has a new musical ready to go. In a video interview with The Independent, published on 23 October, the composer said he had just completed a show built on the true story of how the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre.
Asked when audiences would be able to buy tickets, he replied: "Well, I hope that it will be in London, which should be fully open by this time next year. So, probably September." That is a hope rather than a schedule. No title, venue, cast, creative team or dates have been announced, and nothing is on sale yet.
The spark was a newspaper piece. Lloyd Webber said he read an article in The Times about a year ago whose headline made the point that the Mona Lisa was not famous until she was stolen. Before 1911 the painting hung in a poor spot and few visitors went looking for it. The thief, an Italian, had meant to carry home a different picture that he believed Napoleon had taken from Italy, but it would not fit under his coat, so he left with the Mona Lisa instead. The hunt to get her back turned her into the most famous painting in the world. According to Lloyd Webber, the Louvre did not even notice she was missing for two weeks.
Asked whether the score would lean Italian or Parisian, he promised "a little bit of both". The painting's sitter will not stay silent on the wall, either. "Mona, I have to say, has quite a lot to say about life," he said, adding that once she has been lifted out of her frame she is far from a shy presence.
The project first came up in April, when Lloyd Webber mentioned it while promoting the Broadway opening of Cats: The Jellicle Ball. Talking to The Independent, he also set out his rule for what makes a musical work: "I think a good story can carry an okay score but I don't think a great score can work however good it is with a not very good story."
The full interview, which also covers his life and career, is below or on YouTube. The Mona Lisa section starts at about three and a half minutes in.
The news lands in a busy month for the composer. The Phantom of the Opera turned 40 at His Majesty's Theatre on 9 October, and the occasion brought Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman back to that stage.
Lead photo: PhilipRomanoPhoto via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped and set on a blurred background.
