Andrew Lloyd Webber has shelved his forthcoming musical The Illusionist following creative differences with director Jamie Lloyd, according to sources close to the production. The composer is instead focusing on a new musical dramatising the 1911 theft of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre. The move signals a significant change of direction for one of theatre's most commercially successful figures, and the apparent breakdown of a high-profile collaboration with a director known for bold reimaginings of Lloyd Webber's own work.

The Illusionist, announced in October 2024 and loosely based on Steven Millhauser's short story that also inspired the 2006 Edward Norton film, had a book by Chris Terrio and songs by Bruno Major, with a West End premiere targeted for 2027. Signs of strain surfaced when Lloyd Webber told Variety in 2025 that it was "much too early" to confirm a director. Sources now suggest the project has been dropped outright rather than merely awaiting a new director, though neither camp has confirmed this. The Mona Lisa musical centres on Italian glazier Vincenzo Peruggia, who stole the painting and hid it for two years before attempting to ransom it.