StarKid Launches 2nd National Tour, APOCALYTOUR, in Chicago, 5/9

Following the success of The SPACE Tour, internet sensation Team StarKid announces a second national tour: APOCALYTOUR, featuring a cast of StarKid veterans performing hits from the company's acclaimed original comedy musicals A Very Potter Musical, A Very Potter Sequel, Me and My Dick, and Starship, as well as their latest parody show Holy Musical B@man!.

APOCALYPTOUR will launch at the House of Blues in Chicago on Wednesday, May 9, and culminate in New York City at the Roseland Ballroom on Sunday, June 10.

Regular Tickets, priced from $25 to $35, will be available for purchase via Ticketmaster.com or LiveNation.com* on Tuesday, April 17 at 5 p.m. (local time of venue). Two tiers of VIP Tickets will also be available and are priced as follows: "Golden Idol" VIP, $75 - $85 (lanyard, poster, and an autograph session with the cast 45 minutes before doors open), and "Crystal Skull" VIP, $100 - $125 (lanyard,
poster, concert program, and a Meet and Greet and photo opportunity with the cast 1 ½ hours before doors). This is an "all ages" tour. Performance dates and times are subject to change. *Websites for alternate ticket vendors for select cities noted below.

The performance schedule for the APOCALYPTOUR is as follows:

Wednesday, May 9 at 7:30 p.m.: Chicago, Illinois (House of Blues)
Thursday, May 10 at 7:30 p.m.: Chicago, Illinois (House of Blues)
Friday, May 11 at 7:30 p.m.: Indianapolis, Indiana (Egyptian Room)
Sunday, May 13 at 7:30 p.m.: Nashville, Tennessee (Rocketown - www.rocketown.com)
Monday, May 14 at 6:30 p.m.: New Orleans, Louisiana (House of Blues)
Tuesday, May 15 at 7:30 p.m.: Houston, Texas (House of Blues)
Wednesday, May 16 at 7:30 p.m.: Austin, Texas (La Zona Rosa – www.lazonarosa.com)
Saturday, May 19 at 12:00 p.m.: Anaheim, California (House of Blues)
Sunday, May 20 at 7:30 p.m.: San Diego, California (House of Blues)
Tuesday, May 22 at 7:30 p.m.: Los Angeles, California (House of Blues)
Wednesday, May 23 at 7:30 p.m.: Los Angeles, California (House of Blues)
Friday, May 25 at 7:30 p.m.: San Francisco, California (Nob Hill Masonic Center)
Sunday, May 27 at 7:30 p.m.: Portland, Oregon (Roseland Theatre - www.roselandpdx.com)
Monday, May 28 at 7:30 p.m.: Seattle, Washington (Neptune Theatre - stgpresents.org/neptune)
Tuesday, May 29 at 7:30 p.m.: Vancouver, BC (Vogue Theatre - www.voguetheatre.com)
Thursday, May 31 at 7:30 p.m.: Denver, Colorado (Summit Music Hall - www.lodolivemusic.com)
Friday, June 1 at 7:30 p.m.: Kansas City, Kansas (Uptown Theater)
Saturday, June 2 at 7:30 p.m.: St. Louis, Missouri (The Pageant)
Monday, June 4 at 7:30 p.m.: Ann Arbor, Michigan (The Michigan Theater)
Tuesday, June 5 at 7:30 p.m.: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Theatre of the Living Arts)
Thursday, June 7 at 7:30 p.m.: Silver Spring, Maryland (The Fillmore Silver Spring)
Saturday, June 9 at 5:00 p.m.: Boston, Massachusetts (House of Blues)
Sunday, June 10 at 7:30 p.m.: New York, New York (Roseland Ballroom)
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APOCALYPTOUR will feature the greatest hits and upcoming releases from Team StarKid's comedy musicals. Music and lyrics were composed by StarKid co-founder Darren Criss, who is currently a series regular on the FOX hit "Glee" and recently made his Broadway debut as "J. Pierrepont Finch" in How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying, as well as A.J. Holmes (A Very Potter Musical, Me and My Dick) and Nick Gage (Holy Musical B@man!). The tour is directed by Julia Albain (The SPACE Tour), with music direction by Clark Baxtresser (The SPACE Tour), production design by Corey Lubowich (Me and My Dick, A Very Potter Sequel, Starship, The SPACE Tour), lighting design by Sarah Petty (A Very Potter Sequel, Starship, The SPACE Tour), costumes by June Saito (Starship), and choreography by Katie Spelman (Goodman and Paramount Theatres). APOCALYPTOUR is produced by StarKid Productions.

Appearing on the APOCALYPTOUR will be Jaime Lyn Beatty ("Ginny Weasley" – A Very Potter Musical, "Rita Skeeter" – A Very Potter Sequel, "Sally" – Me and My Dick, "Neato Mosquito" – Starship); Brian Holden ("Remus Lupin" – A Very Potter Sequel, "Flopsy" – Me and My Dick, "Junior" – Starship); Lauren Lopez ("Draco Malfoy" – A Very Potter Musical and Sequel, "Bugette/Taz" – Starship); Jim Povolo ("Goyle and Various Characters – A Very Potter Musical, Sequel, and Starship); Joey Richter ("Ron Weasley" – A Very Potter Musical and Sequel, "Joey" – Me and My Dick, "Bug" – Starship); BrIan Rosenthal ("Professor Quirrell" – A Very Potter Musical and Various Characters – A Very Potter Sequel); Dylan Saunders ("Dumbledore" – A Very Potter Musical and Sequel, "Tootsie Noodles/Pincer" – Starship); Meredith Stepien ("Mega-Girl" – Starship); and Joseph Walker ("Lord Voldemort" – A Very Potter Musical, "Dolores Umbridge" – A Very Potter Sequel, "Dick" – Me and My Dick, "Up" – Starship). They will be accompanied by a five-piece band of Charlene Kaye (guitar), Clark Baxtresser (keyboard), Megan Cox (keyboard), Dave Scalia (drums), and Tomek Miernowski (bass).

Returning to open for Team StarKid on tour will be Charlene Kaye and the Brilliant Eyes. Equally inspired by classic pop greats such as ABBA and Blondie as well as current luminaries such as the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Rufus Wainwright, Charlene Kaye's music is a mishmash of generations and genres, and retro with a contemporary edge. Since her move to New York, she has toured relentlessly, played CMJ and SXSW festivals, opened for acts such as Minus the Bear, Holly Miranda, Big Boi and Darren Criss, and had her music featured on MTVU, The Huffington Post and NBC's "Chuck." Kaye's upcoming LP "Animal Love" was recorded with the Brilliant Eyes – Megan Cox (keyboard), Dave Scalia (drums), and Tomek Miernowski (bass) – and will be released on May 1. For more information visit www.charlenekaye.com.

APOCALYPTOUR is produced by StarKid Productions and presented in part by Live Nation.

The SPACE Tour DVD, featuring exclusive behind-the-scenes footage and interviews from Team StarKid's first tour, is now available via the StarKid store at www.teamstarkid.com. The film was shot, edited and directed by Liam White throughout November 2011. A live album of The SPACE Tour is also available via iTunes. The album (released in March) hit #4 on the iTunes Pop chart and debuted at #2 on the Billboard "Cast Album" chart.

Team StarKid will also premiere the online version of their latest parody show Holy Musical B@man on YouTube (www.youtube.com/starkidpotter) on Friday evening, April 13 at 8 p.m. CST. The cast album will also launch on iTunes that evening. Holy Musical B@man – which features a book by Matt Lang and Nick Lang, music and lyrics by Nick Gage, and additional lyrics by Scott Lamps – was presented to packed houses at Chicago's Hoover-Leppen Theatre, March 16 - 25, 2012. Fans were selected via lottery to attend the free performances. Holy Musical B@man is a parody musical produced and performed solely for the enjoyment of its creators and other comic book fans. The show is in no way sponsored, approved, endorsed by or affiliated with DC Comics, Warner Bros. or any of their affiliates.The cast of Holy Musical B@man will also be appearing at C2E2 (Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo) on Saturday, April 14, 2012. An autograph signing will take place at 6 p.m., and a panel (including a Q&A with the writers and cast, plus exclusive behind the scenes video), will occur at 7:45 p.m.

Originally hailing from the University of Michigan, and now based in Chicago, Team StarKid is a true Cinderella story for the modern age. To date, StarKid has garnered over 117 million views and 227,000 subscribers on YouTube, 183,000 Facebook fans, and nearly 100,000 Twitter followers worldwide, and captured the attention of national media such as Entertainment Weekly, Vanity Fair, Billboard, "Access Hollywood," "Entertainment Tonight," NPR, VH1, and MTV. Based in Chicago, StarKid Productions remains committed to pioneering the internet as a new outlet for theatre distribution.
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StarKid first invaded the internet in July 2009 with A Very Potter Musical – a fan-made parody that premiered on YouTube and immediately went viral. Filmed during a live performance through University of Michigan's Basement Arts, the show was an instant hit with fans of the Harry Potter franchise and quickly garnered nearly 2 million views. In March 2010, StarKid's second production, Me and My Dick, debuted at #11 on the Billboard charts for "Original Cast Recording" – a first for a college production. The show not only solidified StarKid as a real player in comedy musicals, but also grabbed national attention. In May 2010, StarKid returned to Hogwarts with A Very Potter Sequel, receiving over 4,000 ticket requests for 400 available seats. The production – which was named to Entertainment Weekly's "Must List" – premiered to packed houses with fans from across the country lining up for hours. In February 2011, StarKid's first Chicago production, Starship, sold out in less than one week. After its premiere, the show debuted to sold-out screenings in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago before hitting the internet in April of 2011. The cast album, featuring original music and lyrics by Darren Criss, went to #1 on Billboard for "Original Cast Recording" and peaked at #4 on iTunes.

For more information about Team StarKid or APOCALYPTOUR please visit www.teamstarkid.com.
For the most up-to-date news follow StarKid on Twitter @TeamStarKid or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/StarKidPotter. To view productions and other video content, visit www.youtube.com/starkidpotter.