Audience members at the first showing of Simon Cowell's The X Factor musical in London were left waiting nearly an hour between acts due to technical problems.

Preview performances of I Can't Sing!, a spoof of the British reality TV series which has been backed by Cowell, were pushed back twice as the production crew needed more time to work on the technical aspects of the show.

The West End musical was finally unveiled to the public on Wednesday (05Mar14), but the preview was hit with long delays.

The mid-show interval lasted nearly an hour due to a technical glitch and staff at the The London Palladium theater handed out free drinks in a bid to keep the crowd happy.

A spokesperson for the show says, "We have a huge and ambitious set, which is thrilling our audiences when they see it, but we're aware that the turnaround between acts needs to be quicker and our technical teams continue to work extremely hard on shortening it. The preview period for any new West End show is, by its nature, a time for ironing out any issues and we fully recognize there's still work to do on the interval length, which is getting shorter all the time, and we thank everyone for their patience."

The show, starring Downton Abbey actor Nigel Harman, is due to officially open on 26 March (14)