The 2019 New Zealand tour of Shortland Street - The Musical has been cancelled.

The tour production company, which is headed up by the show's director Simon Bennett and writer Guy Langford, has made this difficult decision after considering insufficient advance sales and the subsequent viability of a planned seven-stop NZ tour.

'We don't take this decision lightly - our recent world premiere season garnered superb reviews and an immensely positive response from audiences - but it is the nature of our industry that we rely on sales to survive.

'We sincerely thank everyone who purchased tickets to the show. We are immensely sorry we can't bring our show to your local theatre, but hope we will be able to sometime in the future,” say Simon and Guy.

The tour had been planned to take place in March and April 2019.

Ticketing agencies will be in contact with every purchaser in order to refund their tickets.