THE fastest-selling show ever staged by Southampton's Mayflower theatre has already taken more than one million pounds at the box office.

It has been revealed that 60,000 tickets - £1.5m worth - have been sold for Phantom of the Opera, even though it does not open until January next year.

The Andrew Lloyd Webber musical has controversially replaced this year's Mayflower's pantomime. The production stars Mike Sterling as the Phantom, the role originally made famous by Michael Crawford, and will also be the theatre's longest-running show.

"It's the best selling show in the Mayflower's history," said Carole Butt, box office manager. "We've already sold a third of the seats available and almost every other call received by our staff has been a booking for Phantom."

At Phantom's official launch at Southampton's De Vere Grand Harbour Hotel, production administrator Colin Ingram of production company Cameron Mackintosh said that, after more than a decade on the global stage, the show was still as popular as ever.

"It may have taken 14 years to come to Southampton, but I think people will agree that the magic of the production has been worth waiting for," he said.

After the decision to put the traditional panto fun at the Mayflower on hold for a year, it was initially believed Southampton would be without a seasonal show.

But in April this year bosses at the city's Guildhall stepped in to fill the gap and Cinderella, starring Ruth Madoc of Hi-De-Hi fame, will be staged there from December 21 to January 16, 2000.

Phantom will run from January 6 to March 25. Tickets £12.50 to £32.50. Box office 01703 711811.

Converted for the new archive on 25 January 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.