THE MAYFLOWER has announced its biggest first day ticket sales for one of its shows.

In just one day the Southampton theatre has recorded more than £500,000 in ticket sales for Miss Saigon - Cameron Mackintosh's spectacular touring production due to open in September following the theatre's five-month closure for refurbishment.

About 18,000 theatregoers have so far booked their seats for the classic West End musical about the relationship between an American GI and a young Vietnamese woman during the final days of the Vietnam War. This beats the theatre's previous first-day record-holder, The Phantom of the Opera, by 20 per cent. Overall, Phantom sold more than 150,000 tickets.

"We've never had such a high figure so early in our sales. This is our fastest-selling show to date,'' said Mayflower head of marketing Paul Lewis.

"We were always expecting to do very well with Miss Saigon. It's one of the big shows alongside Les Miserables, Cats and Phantom.

"It really would be something if this show did as well as Phantom.''

Ticket sales for Miss Saigon could also have been boosted by the theatre's imminent closure, he added.

"We will be closed for five months and therefore people will be a little bit starved of spectacular people, so I'm sure that's one of the factors that's making people very concerned to get their tickets.''