The jokes are fast and furious as four excellent comic actors tear through Jeff Daniels’ fish-out-of-water comedy.

For when you just need a good laugh — and then another and another and so on — Miners Alley has a comedic treat on stage now with Jeff Daniels’ very silly comedy Diva Royale. In its first production outside of Daniels’ Purple Rose Theatre in Michigan, Director Warren Sherrill lovingly directs three middle-aged women in an everything-goes-wrong plot centered around their love for Celine Dion and Titanic.

Now, I’m about as familiar with Celine Dion’s music as I am with the Uruguayan Pan Flute Players, but I know the Canadian chanteuse is astoundingly popular and, as Sherrill points out in his director’s note, we all have our Celine. It’s that person or thing or idea that we idolize, maybe even fetishize, to brighten our day or inspire us. For bored Midwesterners Helen (Emily Paton Davies), Mary Catherine (Lisa DeCaro) and Lynette (Amy Arpan), it’s all about Celine, so when they learn she’s doing a rare concert in NYC like, tomorrow, they hastily grab tickets, flights and a hotel and make their way to the Big Apple.

My favorite theatre experiences, particularly with comedies, is when the cast transforms from strangers at the top of the show to people we adore by the final curtain. The faster this happens, the better the jokes land and the more we’re invested in the story. Sherrill and this cast get there with lightning speed, aided by Daniels’ very funny, very human script. There’s no intermission, and the plot moves quickly as we jump on board with the ladies’ quest to see their idol. It’s comedy in its truest form: The focus is on delivering laughs every 10 seconds or so, but layered on top of a story that’s universally resonant and three relatable characters caught up in absurd situations.

L-R: Lisa DeCaro, Amy Arpan and Emily Paton Davies. | Photo: Sarah Roshan Photography

Power trio

Diva is played out on a lean, sparkly set designed by Jonathan Scott-McKean and beautifully lit by Vance McKenzie. The “Diva Royale” marquis is there from the get-go — as is a lit dance floor — teasing the action to come even before we know what’s happening. We get the picture pretty soon of three women ripe for adventure, united in Hallmarkian romanticism as they look for a break from their unsexy, couch-bound hubbies. We don’t often get to see Miners Alley Executive Director Lisa DeCaro on stage, and here she’s a delight as Mary Catherine, a loveable dingbat who turns out to be the trip planner from hell. The fancy hotel room she thought she’d booked is a major fleabag, the concert turns out to be a drag performer doing Celine Dion hits and a highly stereotypical NYC mugger adds an additional monkey wrench to the action.

Arpan hilariously embodies the character of Lynette — a woman so tethered to her smartphone that when she loses it, it’s like she’s missing an arm. All three are high-strung, but Davies’ Helen leads the way in a prim sweater containing a big bag of nerves. As they bumble through the action, belting out Celine songs along the way and creating an even tighter bond for their “Mama Bears” trio, they’re simply irresistible. Even though the script at times dips into fart-joke and improbable territory at times (really, Mary Catherine brought along an entire marinated ham?), the warm and funny relationship between the three women patches over any of the weaker plot points.

Lisa DeCaro and Matthew Combs in ‘Diva Royale’ at Miners Alley. | Photo: MAP

Generic Man

Rounding out the cast is Matthew Combs as “Generic Man” — appearing as a variety of male characters ranging from the drag performer and mugger to a cop, a hotel desk clerk and plenty more. Sherrill does some inventive work mixing up how he appears in scene after scene, appearing from the wings of the “Diva Royale” proscenium and blending in as if he was there all along.

They’re broad-strokes caricatures of the types one might encounter in the city, but Combs brings a unique spin to each of them. If the three leads weren’t so strong, he might be a scene-stealer, but overall the balance is kept as our focus remains on the women and their story despite the bit players inhabited by Combs.

I was thinking the funniest show I’d seen all year was the corny musical Shucked, which just ended its run at the Denver Center. But Diva Royale is also a leading contender. At the show I saw Oct. 16, the near-capacity crowd was laughing uproariously at just about everything — even stuff one wouldn’t consider a joke. Maybe there was some inside Celine/Titanic references I couldn’t know, but mostly it was due to that instant rapport the actors portraying our batty Michiganders established early on.

Even if you don’t know a thing about Celine Dion or remember every scene from Titanic, Diva Royale is a sure-fire hit for just about anyone looking for 90 minutes of nonstop laughter.