Matthew Morrison Brings Glee to South Pacific???

The Lincoln Center’s production of South Pacific is bringing Broadway-style pricing to London. Top-price tickets for its seven-week London run at the Barbican from 15 August 2011 are a whopping £85 – or, if you’re booking through ticket agents (which are being offered zero inside commission so are having to cover all their costs with heftier than usual fees on top), closer to £95. And we hear, seven Tony Awards notwithstanding, theatregoers aren’t rushing to part with that amount of dosh, especially without any big-name casting yet announced.

But that may be about to change. Ticket agents are pinning their hopes on rumours that Glee star Matthew Morrison will soon be announced for the London dates of South Pacific to 1 October at the Barbican. Now best known as teacher Will Schuester in the hit US TV series, Morrison originally played Lt Joe Cable in Bartlett Sher’s 2008 production on Broadway, where Morrison’s other pre-Glee credits include Hairspray (as the original Link Larkin), The Light in the Piazza, The Rocky Horror Show and Footloose.

Morrison’s eponymous debut album is released on 30 May 2011, and he has his debut UK concert tour in June, coincidentally (or not?) visiting three of the same cities – London, Manchester and Glasgow – as the autumn tour of South Pacific. After the Barbican, the musical visits Milton Keynes (12-22 October), Manchester (25 October-2 November), Glasgow (8-19 November) and Bristol (22 November-3 December).