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\n\tAndrew Lloyd Webber<\/a>\u2018s forthcoming musical The Illusionist<\/em> has been shelved following creative differences with director Jamie Lloyd, according to sources close to the production, with the composer instead turning his attention to a new musical about the 1911 theft of Leonardo Da Vinci\u2019s masterpiece, the Mona Lisa<\/em>.<\/p>\n \n\tLondon-based theater<\/a> blogger Carl Woodward first reported the news on X<\/a>. Representatives for Lloyd Webber and Lloyd did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A source within the Webber camp pushed back on Illusionist<\/em> being dead forever, however, calling it a \u201chuge musical which takes a lot of time.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tLloyd Webber announced The Illusionist<\/em> in October 2024, with Lloyd \u2014 the hot director behind recent radical re-stagings of Webber classics like Evita<\/em> and Sunset Boulevard<\/em> \u2014 attached to direct. <\/p>\n \n\tLoosely based on Steven Millhauser\u2019s short story\u00a0Eisenheim the Illusionist<\/em> \u2014 which also inspired the 2006 film The Illusionist<\/em> starring Edward Norton \u2014 the adaptation promised to \u201ctransport audiences into a world of mystery, romance and breathtaking stage magic,\u201d according to Webber\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tThe musical has a book by Chris Terrio and songs by Bruno Major, and was expected to open in the West End<\/a>, with Lloyd Webber more recently targeting a 2027 premiere.<\/p>\n \n\tCracks in the collaboration became public when Lloyd Webber told Variety<\/em> in 2025<\/a> that it was \u201cmuch too early\u201d to confirm a director for the project, adding that, for a new work, \u201cit needs to be someone I\u2019m comfortable with.\u201d <\/p>\n \n\tSources now say the project has been shelved outright rather than simply awaiting a new director \u2014 a characterization that has not yet been confirmed by either camp. <\/p>\n \n\tThe shift comes as Lloyd Webber has been devoting his energy to a different project: a musical dramatizing the true story of the Mona Lisa<\/em>\u2018s 1911 disappearance from the Louvre<\/a>, when Italian glazier Vincenzo Peruggia removed the painting from the wall and kept it hidden for two years before attempting to ransom it. <\/p>\n \n\tLloyd Webber confirmed the project earlier this year, saying only, \u201cMore than that I cannot really tell you, for the simple reason that I\u2019m going away next week to write it.\u201d<\/p>\n