Every Second City cast has the latitude to make the scenes that suit its common sensibility, be they farce, stinging satire, interpersonal realness or something unheard of. The team performing the new revue “The Devil Is in the Detours” has a definite vision, and the test will be how many audiences are willing to run with it. An announcer early on calls it “weird, sexy comedy,” and the weirdness is what prevails.
In scene after scene, the six expert actor-writers lock into their characters and convey supreme confidence as they pour themselves into a premise that’s bizarre, if not downright nonsensical. Either you go with it or you don’t. For me, the scene of two swooning guys from a bygone era (Adonis Holmes and Jordan Stafford) crooning to the moon comes to life when the moon (Hannah Ingle) starts responding.
Turns out she’s a heavenly body from hell — foul-mouthed, jealous and quick to stir up the tides when angry. But the bit about the wildlife advocate (Andy Bolduc) who cradles little creatures and then hurls them to their deaths is just strange for strange’s sake. And the real estate agent (Ingle) who sashays from room to room stating the obvious, while precisely choreographed, grows repetitious and baffling (and isn’t redeemed by a twist ending).
Ingle also calls the shots as a fashion director who lures an audience member onstage to demonstrate poses and runway moves. A crowd-pleaser at first, the gag eventually wears thin. First-time mainstage dire.
