parterre box

The zine parterre box appeared bimonthly 1993-2001. Click on a link to download a pdf of an issue.

1: All those lousy Traviatas
The very first issue of parterre box, the queer opera zine. Featuring: We hear that, Thomas Hampson, I love my dead gay Walsung, Cavalleria Suburbiana.


2: Diviant Behavior
Carol Vanmess and Cheryl Strudel, Wolfboy, The Life and Times of Sunny von Bulow, We hear that, Why bother?


3: Valley of the Divas 
La Cieca’s debut, Awakening Scene, Dialogues of the Carmelites, The Kathy Battle Scandale.


4: A Boy and His Diva 
The Phantom of the Opera is Queer, Stiffelio, Adriana Lecouvreur, We hear that.


5: I am divine! I am oblivion! 
We hear that, Have You Met Miss Jones, Dmitri After Dark, Call Me Magda, Your Queer Operatic Heritage, Soubrette from Hell.


6: Busted! 
Debbie Does Naxos, Cecilia Bartoli, My Own Private Montparnasse, The Texaco Opera Queers, Readers Rant.


7: Back to the future 
Rant, The Montreal Thing, Unmasking the Ball, Questo e Quello.


8: Those darn divas!  
Postcards from Two Lakes, To Wang Foo: Thanks for Everything – Anna Moffo, Zinka v. Eleanor, Diana Soviero, Metropolitan Opera Broadcasts You Never Heard.

9: Feminine, glamorous  
Fishbone, Amadigi, Menoriti Rules, The ‘94-’95 Metropolitan Opera Broadcast Season.


10: Mud will be flung  
Del Monaco directs Butterfly, Enzo Bordello, La Gran Scena, La Cieca Predicts, I Never Will Forget Jeanette MacDonald, Divas and Their Boys.


12: Kiss my mouth!  
Cheryl Studer phones it in, Licia boos, Death on the Nile (the historic turning point in Aprile Millo criticism!), Salome as gay text, Fishbone goes home, Easy to Swallow.


14/15: parterre box has risen from the grave  
The “comeback” issue. La Cieca’s first howler: Maria Ewing replaces Jessye Norman in Makropulos Case, Gay Men’s Chorus, Farinelli, Nekkid Gays on CD Covers, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, Fishbone at Large, Nothing, Fax from Flora, Harvey Milk, Dawn Patrol, Lend Me a Heldentenor.


16: Talk the talk  
The Licia Albanese Gala, Mathis der Maler, Sunday in the Park with Scourge, Heads Will Roll, Readers Rant, Queenspeak.


17: Sure, opera sucks, but… 
The Three Sopranos, Seat Titles, Enzo Bordello, Top Ten Queer Influences on Maria Callas, Fishbone in Philly, Fax from Flora, Mrs. Kavanaugh.


18: Jessye was dressye 
Top Ten List of June Anderson’s Newly Augmented Repertoire, Master Class, Opera Continues to Suck, We Fear That…, An American Opera Queen in London, Slaughter of the Regiment, Duelling Mezzos.


19: Cathy kills  
Busted Again, Questo e Quello, Little Stevie, Bartoli’s Met Debut, Soverio’s Butterfly, Fishbone, Ritual of Obedience, Readers Rant, I Hate Romans, No Comment, Road Kill, Fag Bashing at NYCO.


20: Post-gala depression 
Worst-dressed Singers at the Levine Gala, Renee Fleming is a Mess, My Voice Gone Now, A Gran Night for Sinking, Ghaghiu and Lasagna, Il Trionfo di Westchester, The Hunt for Red Hot Diva, Richard Breath Wants to Know, L’homme a la Pomme, The Callas Circle.


21: Legal at Last!
Patti LuPone in Master Class, 10 Rules for Stage Directors, Queer-friendly opera, The Artist formerly known as Maria Ewing, Incest is Best, Bleating Man, The most glamourous diva of them all, Heroin chic, Fishbone.


22: A Boy and His Diva
La Cieca looks at NYCO, Festive occasions, Boys and their Divas, Ou va la jeune andouille?


23: Forbidden Love
The tenor of very little brain, Catfight at the Met, Operatic tearooms, Randall Wong, Patrice Munsel talks about King Kong, Fleming Flappers, Is Kallen Esperian a duck?


24: Soviero in cyberspace
Faye vs. Dixie, Holland’s tunnel vision, Enzo Bordello at the Met, The Kathy Lee Syndrome, Half-naked musclement, Getting your fach straight, Faggots and Trovatore, Zinging Lessons.


25: Old-fashioned Girl
Deborah Voigt interview, Mawrdew Czgowchwz quiz, I’m not an opera queen, Moedlrollen.


26: Scandale! 
Bobby Bob’s big mouth, Wig angst, Dawn Carlos, Behrens meltdown, Richard Breath wants to know, Opera is not porn, Little Stevie screams, Our lives are better than your lives.


27: Debris
When your tongue gets a hard-on, Questions you’ll never hear on the opera quiz, Out West, Missed opportunities, Gaggles of queens, Enzo Bordello rants.


28: La Vera Storia
Les excuses de M. ALAGNA, Homoeroticism at NYCO, Peter and Richard, Ira Siff interview, A boy and his diva, Boy was I disappointed.


29: Role Model
Miss Bitchy Spice, Xerxes, Dame Gwyneth Jones, Aprite presto aprite, Joan Crawford operas, Bordello weekend, Interview with Charles Busch, Night of the unpronounceable cast.


30: Melpomene Stessa
Ask Dr. Repertoire, Preview of the Met’s 1998 season, Interview with Ethan Mordden, Readers rrrrant, A boy and his diva.