Glee’s Matthew Morrison Announces Summer Tour [VIDEO]

GLEE’s MATTHEW MORRISON

LAUNCHES NATIONAL SUMMER TOUR

ARTIST PRE-SALE BEGINS APRIL 4 AT WWW.MATTHEWMORRISON.COM

REGIONAL GLEE CLUBS CAN COMPETE FOR CHANCE TO BE OPENING ACT IN THEIR TOWN

DEBUT SINGLE “SUMMER RAIN” RELEASED ON MERCURY RECORDS

(April 1, 2011 - New York, NY) Gleeks everywhere are busy making summer plans as “Glee” star and Mercury Records artist Matthew Morrison announced today a major summer tour that will feature songs from his forthcoming album along with many of the Glee fan favorites. In tribute to the great glee clubs across the country, the tour, in conjunction with the VH1 Save The Music Foundation, will offer regional glee clubs the chance to compete for the ‘opening act’ performance slot. The VH1 Save The Music Foundation, which is a non-profit organization dedicated to restoring instrumental music education programs in our nation’s schools, is a proud partner in the competition and entries can be submitted at www.matthewmorrison.com/gleeclubcontest.

Matthew has also teamed up with Funny Or Die, the award-winning website that has become one of the top destinations for comedy on the web, to create original content for the tour. The videos will premiere exclusively on Funny Or Die, and Funny Or Die is also producing original content that will be incorporated into the live show.

Beginning June 18 in Minneapolis, the tour will hit 20 plus cities across the U.S. before wrapping up in Los Angeles at the Nokia Theatre on July 23^rd. Artist pre-sale tickets go on sale April 4^th at www.matthewmorrison.com. American Express cardmember pre-sale tickets go on sale April 6^th 10am at www.aeglive.com and are available through Thursday April 14^th at 10pm. General public tickets go on sale Friday, April 15^th at 10am at www.aeglive.com. Several VIP packages will be available and include artist meet-and-greets, reserved seating, priority venue entrance, collectible memorabilia and more. A full listing of tour dates and cities is below.

Morrison recently premiered his debut single, “Summer Rain” on American Idol host Ryan Seacrest’s nationally syndicated morning radio show on KIIS-FM in Los Angeles. And Matthew will perform “Summer Rain” live on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on April 6th; and on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on April 11th. “Summer Rain” is available on iTunes and all digital partners.

Check out behind the scenes footage of the making of “Summer Rain” below:

http://www.vevo.com/watch/matthew-morrison/summer-rain-tour-rehearsal-behind-the-scenes/USUV71100285

“Summer Rain” was co-written by Matthew with Claude Kelly (Bruno Mars, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, to name a few) and the Norwegian duo known as Espionage, who produced the track in New York City. Espionage (Espen Lind and Amund Bjørklund), are respected for their work with Train (this year’s Grammy Award-winning “Hey, Soul Sister,” iTunes’ top-selling song of 2010) and many others. “Summer Rain” is the first track from Morrison’s upcoming debut album, set for May 10th release, which also features duets with Elton John and Gwyneth Paltrow.

Matthew Morrison is best known to millions as the eternally optimistic high school teacher - and de facto glee club director - Will Schuester, on the FOX television network’s runaway hit comedy series “Glee.” The show ranks as the #1 entertainment program on broadcast television among Adults 18-34, Teens and Female Teens.

Morrison has been nominated for Tony, Emmy and Golden Globe awards, and shared the 2009 SAG (Screen Actors Guild) Award for Best Performance by an Ensemble in a Television Series - Comedy or Musical, for “Glee.”

Morrison is no stranger to musical theatre, vocal performance and dance, which he studied at New York University’s renowned Tisch School of the Arts. His first big Broadway break came as heartthrob Link Larkin in the hit Hairspray. Morrison was later nominated for a Tony Award for his role in The Light in the Piazza. He received a Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Musical for 10 Million Miles. Morrison also starred in the Tony Award-winning revival of South Pacific at New York’s Lincoln Center Theater.

A California native, Morrison divides his time between Los Angeles and New York.

MATT MORRISON Tour Dates

Saturday, June 18 Minneapolis, MN Orpheum Theatre

Sunday, June 19 St. Louis, MO Fabulous Fox Theatre

Tuesday, June 21 Rosemont, IL Rosemont Theatre

Wednesday, June 22 Columbus, OH Palace Theatre

Thursday, June 23 Detroit, MI Detroit Opera House

Monday, June 27 Philadelphia, PA Mann Center for the Performing Arts

Tuesday, June 28 Newark, NJ New Jersey Performing Arts Center

Wednesday, June 29 Boston, MA Citi Performing Arts Center Wang Theatre

Friday, July 1 New York, NY Beacon Theatre

Saturday, July 2 Atlantic City, NJ Caesar's - Circus Maximus