Cats, the much-loved musical by English composefro Lloyd Webber, comes to Rome's Teatro Sistina in a new international production from 7 December to 22 January.

Produced by Peeparrow in collaboration with Teatro Sistina, the Italian-language version of the show will bedirected by Massimo Romeo Piparo, with Malika Ayane as Grizabella.

For the first time ever, the magical musical will be set in Rome, a city well known for its colonies of cats.

• Rome's cat sanctuary among the ruins

The Teatro Sistina stage will be transformed into a giant "dump" filled with ancient Roman treasures and archaeological finds, with the Colosseum as the backdrop.

Based on the poetry of T. S. Eliot, the musical tells the story of the Jellicles tribe of cats and the night they make the "Jellicle choice" by deciding which cat will ascend to the Heaviside layer and come back to a new life.

Seen by more than 73 million people around the world, Cats remains the fourth-longest-running Broadway show and the seventh-longest-running West End show.

For information about the Rome show, including tickets, see Teatro Sistina website. Cover photo Gianluca Saragò.