This week, we got DIBS on Rocky Horror at the Music Box, the Midnight Madness shadow cast that’s been turning a 35mm print, a midnight showtime, and a lot of fishnets into one of Chicago’s longest-running queer rituals. From a scrappy 1990s Rogers Park crew to five sold-out Halloween shows in 2024, this is the story of how a “weird little movie” became a pillar of the city’s cultural fabric and a home for anyone who’s ever felt like an outsider.

In this episode, Nick takes you inside the Music Box on Halloween night, live from the lobby, the balcony, and backstage, to talk with cast president Marnie Thompson, Franks Elise and Amy, historian/DJ/security chief Chris, veteran cast members Bones and Billy, newer faces like Mark, Sarah, and Colby, staging manager Logan, and Music Box special events director Matt Carr. Together, they unpack why Rocky still matters 50 years later, what it means to build a truly welcoming “padded room” for self-expression, and how a volunteer cast keeps this tradition alive month after month.

In this episode, we cover:

• The first time it hits you: cast “Rocky stories” that start with high school theater, late-night TV, strict parents, anime conventions, and end with joining the cast.
• Why it endures: Rocky Horror as queer sanctuary, counterculture church, and a rare third space where you don’t have to drink to belong.
• Halloween vs. every other month: what makes the October run feel like “our Christmas,” how five shows sold out by early October, and why the energy on Halloween is unlike anything else in the city.
• Behind the corsets: staging managers juggling five nights of casting Tetris, months of rehearsals, handmade prop bags, and the nerves that never quite go away.
• Life on stage: playing Frank, Riff Raff, Eddie, Rocky, and more, embodying confidence, messiness, and joy, and what it feels like to have 700 people scream and dance with you at midnight.
• Queer history in real time: Midnight Madness as a 40-year Chicago institution, a place to figure out gender and sexuality long before language caught up, and a space where new generations keep finding themselves.
• The Music Box as home: how a once-run-down neighborhood theater became a thriving, analog, all-year destination, from Rocky at midnight to White Christmas sing-alongs and why people “just keep coming back.”
• If you’ve never been: how to pick your first show (Halloween chaos vs. deep-cut regulars), what to expect from the callbacks and crowd, and why the only real rule is simple: don’t be a dick.

The Music Box

Listen now and don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and comment; it helps us continue to bring you the voices behind the institutions, people, and places that make Chicago extraordinary.

Connect with the hosts of DIBS on Instagram Nick Sarantos and Mallory Waxman