Andrew Lloyd Webber teased a new musical inspired by the 1911 theft of the Mona Lisa during a recent appearance on The Tonight Show, revealing he is currently writing the production about one of art history’s most audacious heists.
During the June 2 episode, Webber discussed the historical crime with host Jimmy Fallon, noting the remarkable circumstances surrounding the painting’s disappearance. “Nobody at the Louvre noticed that she’d gone for two weeks,” the composer explained, reflecting on how the theft paradoxically transformed the portrait into the world’s most famous painting.
The Mona Lisa vanished on August 21, 1911, when Vincenzo Peruggia, an Italian glazier and housepainter who had helped install protective glass around the work, removed it from its case and fled. The theft was discovered 28 hours later when an artist arrived to sketch the painting and found only an empty wall. Peruggia hid the painting in Italy for more than two years before contacting an art dealer in late 1913 and demanding a ransom, leading to his arrest.
Andrew Lloyd Webber teases new Mona Lisa heist musical on Tonight Show
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Webber has long drawn inspiration from history’s grandest spectacles for his musicals. The Phantom of the Opera, which closed on Broadway in 2023 after a 35-year run, grossed more than $1 billion and remains the longest-running show in Broadway history. With The Mona Lisa heist musical, the composer aims to capture another moment of historical drama that captivated the public imagination.
Sources
- BroadwayWorld — Reported Webber’s Tonight Show appearance and quotes about the Mona Lisa musical theft of 1911
- Smithsonian Magazine — Provided detailed historical context on the 1911 theft, Vincenzo Peruggia’s role, the timeline of discovery and recovery, and Webber’s statements about the project
- NBC — Confirmed the June 2, 2026 Tonight Show episode with Andrew Lloyd Webber as a guest
