Sweeney Todd Brings Seraphim’s Interactive Halloween Tradition Back to Rapid City

Seraphim Theatre has spent years building a Halloween tradition around productions that blur the line between a conventional stage show and something more immersive. Past October productions have included Dracula, Carn-EVIL, Jabberwock Asylum, Searchers of the Black Death, Revillier Nightsong and Dead Residence, all part of what the company describes as its interactive Halloween shows. This year, Seraphim is applying that approach to one of musical theater’s best-known horror stories: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

The production opens Friday, Oct. 23, and runs for two weekends, with performances Oct. 23, 24, 25, 30 and 31 and Nov. 1 at Seraphim Theatre in Rapid City. Friday and Saturday performances begin at 7:30 p.m., with Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. Jesse Hamer is directing the production, with Vonnie Houchin serving as music director and Bridgett Farruggia handling choreography.

Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s musical follows Benjamin Barker, a barber who returns to London after being unjustly convicted and exiled. Taking the name Sweeney Todd, he resumes his trade above Mrs. Lovett’s struggling pie shop while pursuing revenge against the judge responsible for destroying his family. Todd’s revenge quickly becomes less selective, while Mrs. Lovett finds a particularly gruesome solution to the rising cost of meat.

The original Broadway production opened in 1979 and won eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Original Score for Sondheim and Best Book for Wheeler. Len Cariou and Angela Lansbury also won for their performances as Todd and Mrs. Lovett. The score includes some of Sondheim’s best-known work, including “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd,” “The Worst Pies in London,” “Pretty Women,” “A Little Priest” and “Not While I’m Around.”

For Seraphim, the musical is also the latest entry in a Halloween series the company has been shaping for years. Earlier productions have used the theater itself as part of the experience, with staging and audience placement designed to make the action feel less contained than a standard proscenium production. Seraphim is continuing that idea with Sweeney Todd, offering designated Front Side Interactive and Front Center Interactive seating along with conventional side, center and balcony sections.

The company has not publicly detailed exactly what those interactive seats will experience in this production, which leaves some of the staging intentionally unrevealed. What is clear is that Sweeney Todd gives Seraphim a lot to work with: a barber chair, a pie shop, crowded London streets and a story that becomes progressively darker as Todd’s obsession with revenge takes over.

Seraphim is also making it clear that this is not one of its family-oriented productions. The theater gives the show a Strong PG-13 rating and says it is not intended for children, citing adult language and situations along with simulated violence and gore. The production also includes haze or fog effects and strobe lighting.

This is also a full musical rather than a short seasonal attraction. The listed running time is approximately 165 minutes, putting the production at about two hours and 45 minutes. That means the company is balancing the demands of Sondheim’s score, ensemble singing, choreography and a large dramatic arc with the interactive Halloween format audiences have come to associate with Seraphim’s October productions.