Gerard Alessandrini may have New York cornered with his hilarious Forbidden Broadway parodies, but in Seattle it's Tom Orr who seems to have cornered the market.

First and foremost there is the latest incarnation of his San Francisco and Seattle sensation Dirty Little Show Showtunes in which Orr also performs, opening this Friday, Apr. 10 at Re-bar. The show has had 3 runs in S.F. and two in Seattle, plus a short-lived Chicago version, and a new one opening there this summer.

Orr goes into competition with himself Apr. 17 when Theatre Schmeater opens The Miss Intermission Show providing both book and parody lyrics for a campy saga featuring the ubiquitous Lisa Neal, spinning off the character she created between acts of the company's popular late night Twilight Zone series.

A triple dose of Orr-iginal lyrics will be available to the theatre going public when Seattle Men's Chorus sub-group The Emerald City Volunteers debuts yet more Orr show-tune send-ups, under the title Sweet Parody as part of their concert in tandem with the Chorus' a cappella group Zipper, at Broadway Performance Hall on May 3.

Orr also writes special parody material for corporate entertainments with Cabaret Productions. Does he ever plan to write something totally new? "I long to!", he proclaims, "But these offers keep rolling in. I have this great idea for an original musical treatment of the old Scooby Doo TV cartoons, if I can just find the right composer to do the music." Still, the 27 year old lyricist enjoys the public response to his often off-color parodies. "Be careful what you wish for though", he cautions. "Right now all I want is the show to be open, to see my boyfriend, and to have a conversation in which no one mentions Dirty Little Showtunes!.

--By David-Edward Hughes
Seattle Correspondent