Hundreds of theatre-goers were left disappointed after Oxford's New Theatre was forced to cancel the first two performances of the musical Hello Dolly!

Staff at the theatre, in George Street, said the show's production company cancelled Monday and Tuesday's performances because of technical problems.

But the two shows scheduled for tonight went ahead as planned after the problems were resolved and staff said the rest of the week's performances would not be affected. New Theatre marketing manager Sue Evans said staff had called hundreds of ticket-holders over the weekend to offer them a seat for one of the later performances, or a full refund.

She said: "We contacted everybody who had booked for Monday and Tuesday to offer them the option of exchanging for a later date or a refund.

"They were disappointed but they understood it could not be helped. The vast majority were able to swap for a later performance."

A spokesman for Chris Moreno Ltd, the production company behind the show, said: "It was just basically technical difficulties fitting the stage in.

"Because of the bank holiday the performances were quite quiet anyway.

"We have just transferred everyone to the later part of the week."

The spokesman added: "It is a big show.

"There is no point running a show that is not complete."

Hello Dolly!, starring Anita Dobson and Darren Day, runs until Saturday.