A birthday present turned into an outing for a group of friends one Sunday afternoon. The location picked was near Ann Arbor, Michigan. The play selected was Diva Royale. The experience was divine.
Film, television and theater star Jeff Daniels founded the Purple Rose Theatre Company and has written twenty plays which have premiered here. He has been nominated for three Tony Awards as Best Actor. I am fortunate to have seen all of them: God of Carnage, Blackbird and To Kill A Mockingbird. Having created this local theater company with his impressive credentials is a blessing in a world where theater struggles to compete for your entertainment dollar and time.
This production of Diva Royale is actually a revival of a previously successful run. Mr. Daniels wrote and directed this imbecilic concoction of frivolous madcap fun. Laughter erupted frequently from this audience. Truth be told, the Sunday matinee crowd skewed elderly (and I’m no spring chicken). We sat in the round so viewing other faces was part of the joy. At first the idiotically silly and relatively tame innuendo humor seemed to shock and offend a few sitting close by. Even they, however, had to give in to the power of an iceberg which still haunts our collective minds today.
The plot imagines a gang of three married midwestern housewives with children who bond not only about their similar life experiences but also about their frightening obsession with the movie Titanic. They inform hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of viewings. Yes, that is scary and, yes, that is funny.
Celine Dion, the ballad queen of the movie’s soundtrack, is performing a concert in New York City and these ladies hatch a plan to adore her in person. Hijinks ensue of course as these “nice” moms confront the Big Apple. A mystery over one missing cellphone may be solved (or not) through an inspired blast of creativity. The audience roared.
The best parts of the play are the little asides about their lives with certain details (the underarm trap) bordering on unforgettable. In addition to the three travelers, there is a character named Generic Man. In the performance we caught, Connor Allston nailed every single character variation he was asked to play including Jack Dawson, the Leonardo DiCaprio role from the film. Generic Man is a great part and the direction and costuming was purposefully simple and wholly effective.
Caitlin Cavannaugh, Meghan VanArsdalen and Caitlin Burt embodied the Celine Dion obsessed gal pals with Ms. VanArsdalen hilariously imagining herself as the heroine Rose. Each actress had their moments as the plot careened from self-involved oversharing to surviving the onslaught. By that I do not only mean Ms. Dion’s bombastic vocals but also the mean streets of the big city. This being a full throttle comedy, a happy ending is assured.
I continue to be amazed at the impact Celine and this film have had on a generation. The theater has been paying tribute for years now. There is the side-plot character of Dionne Salon, a Canadian pop star, in the extraordinary and woefully underproduced musical Bedbugs!!! The colossal hit Titanique opened off-Broadway in 2022 and remains floating.
Along with Diva Royale, these homages embrace Ms. Dion’s over-the-top sensibility. They mock her mercilessly but there is ample evidence that such abuse is good-natured and filled with love. As Mr. Daniels notes: “Funny transcends politics, polarization and fear of the future”. Throw in a diva whose heart will go on and you will have a memorably daffy time escaping our current American reality of another looming iceberg.
Diva Royale recently completed its run at the Purple Rose Theatre. Next up is the world premiere of The Antichrist Cometh beginning March 22, 2024.
theaterreviewsfrommyseat/titanique
theaterreviewsfrommyseat/tokillamockingbird