Titaníque on Broadway ★★★★★

Titaníque is fantastique, a scrappy campfest that has sailed the considerable distance from Off-Broadway to Broadway — having made port stops in Australia, Canada, England, France, and Brazil — with its heart and hilarity intact. A valentine to both James Cameron’s landmark Titanic film and Céline Dion’s mighty music catalogue, it’s a kooky, unlikely mashup that whips its constantly delighted audience into a hurly-burly of hysteria. By show’s end, the ship may have sunk, but all else has risen to great heights, with attendees’ faces aching from prodigious laughter.

Both the film and Dion’s ballads — Lord have mercy, so many ballads — are wildly earnest endeavors, and co-authors Marla Mindelle, Constantine Rousouli, and Tye Blue use that serious-mindedness to create genuinely sharp comedy. The absurdity begins at the start, as Dion (Mindelle) pops up at a Titanic exhibition to regale the museum visitors with the true story of what really happened on that fated ship, constantly inserting herself in the goings-on with her powerful soprano and sweetly assertive sequins.

Unlike the (slightly) overlong film it is parodying, Titaníque comes in at a brisk, intermissionless 1 hour and 40 minutes, so all the movie’s highlights are hit-and-run affairs, ensuring that the production never overstays its welcome. And if something doesn’t fit your fancy, it’s quickly swept away for different, unexpected silliness, with space for improv from the cast members that make the experience feel freshly minted.

Unexpected cultural references abound: Scream, The Greatest Showman, Chicago, RuPaul’s Drag Race (which director Blue has worked on), even Euphoria Season 3. Fortunately, those asides never feel indulgent and come across more as bonuses for those in the know.

The entire cast is having a blast, and their infectious fun spreads generously to the audience. Rousouli is a jocular Jack, stuffed in tight clothes to resemble a steroid-loaded Leonardo DiCaprio with a strict lifting regimen. His Rose is played by Melissa Barrera, one of the stars of the recent Scream film reboots, and her performance — a Broadway debut, no less — is worth cheering for. Not only is she a dead ringer for Kate Winslet, she sings gorgeously and has serious comedic chops.

Also making an impressive Broadway debut is Layton Williams, the one import from the West End production, where he won an Olivier Award for his priceless portrayals of both The Seaman and Iceberg. Pop icon Deborah Cox, who once sang backup for Dion, is very much unsinkable as Molly Brown, belting to the gods, though the writers miss a trick in not noting that much of Kathy Bates’ role was cut from the theatrical release.

Frankie Grande is having a gay blast as Victor Garber/Luigi, as is Grindr-using, mustache-twisting John Riddle as the villainous Cal Hockley, immortalized in the movie by Billy Zane. Making the most of every mean moment is the brilliant Jim Parsons (Big Bang Theory) as Frances Fisher’s Ruth DeWitt Bukaker, Rose’s ruthless mother. Initially unrecognizable in drag, Parsons lets nary a comic possibility escape his grasp, his snotty plumage often ruffled but never defeated.

And then there is Mindelle as Céline Dion. Her superb portrayal as the extraordinary chanteuse canadienne is both loving and sassy, an endearing tribute to an artist she clearly loves. As a result, the audience can’t help but “lurve” her back.

Blue and choreographer Ellenore Scott (who’s having a banner season with Ragtime and High Spirits in addition to this production) have done a splendid job bringing out the best from the ensemble (which also includes the lively Sara Gallo, Polanco Jones, Jr., and Kristina Leopold as Dion’s background vocalists) and the show’s design team.

Scenic designers Gabriel Hainer Evansohn and Grace Laubacher have created a space that resembles the famed Titanic staircase, now reimagined aboard a Las Vegas cruise liner. Costume designer Alejo Vietti and hair and wig designer Charles G. LaPointe capture the grandiosity of the film’s wardrobe and hairstyles while adding the perfect level of quirkiness, sound designer Lawrence Schober ensures all the music (orchestrated with panache by Nicholas James Connell and conducted cheerily by Geoffrey Ko) cuts cleanly though the shenanigans, and lighting designer Paige Seber, who had a memorable run on the most recent season of The Amazing Race, does stellar work here.

Lastly, it’s worth noting that the show’s move to Broadway comes with the de rigueur boatload of producers, but among many of the usual suspects are such unexpected names as Bowen Yang, Matt Rogers, Joey Fatone, and JC Chasez. It takes a unified village to make such a splash, and this entire crew certainly has. And like the ubiquitous “My Heart Will Go On,” the beloved song that Cameron almost cut from his film, so too will this wonderful show.