Marie Jones has come home. This is as much a spiritual homecoming, to the ideals and inspiration of the vintage days of Charabanc, as a physical return, after all the triumphs with Stones in his Pockets in the West End, on Broadway and beyond. At the packed opening night at the Lyric, there was a palpable sense of Belfast welcoming its girl back and of Jones offering this rumbustious musical version of an early one-act play as a gift to her people. It is as though she is saying, "This one's for us. Enjoy!"

And enjoy they did, from the moment the lights went up on Stuart Marshall's cleverly stylised, black-and-white cut-out set, the tight terraces of working-class Belfast curving, like a rainbow or an Orange arch, above two claustrophobic rows of doors and windows, through which nosy neighbours peep and whisper. In contrast to the theatrical setting, the burlesque presentation and cartoony costumes by Elish Hogg comes that unmistakable Charabanc brand of heightened gritty realism, beautifully realised by the familiar and, still, wonderfully instinctive pairing of Eleanor Methven and Carol Moore - who, with Jones, Brenda Winter and Maureen McAuley, founded the company in 1983.

Methven and Moore simply are Mona and Molly, for years indispensable as the local body-washer and midwife. But that was in the good old days. Now, times have changed and their services are no longer in demand. Their days are long and tedious, passed in nostalgic reminiscence and hilariously meticulous examination of the dubious goings-on of their new neighbours, the tacky Watsons.

To the accompaniment of Trevor Moore's rollicking music - punctuated by a couple of high-class, show-stopping ballads - Ian McElhinney's production aims to please. Jones is as deft and witty and acute as ever in her observations of the society she knows so well and has stepped into a new rhyming couplet style, which only occasionally feels a touch contrived. She joins Methven and Moore - their first time on stage together in a decade - and a cast of fine Northern actors, Sean Kearns, Dan Gordon, Richard Dormer and Katie Tomelty, in this two-hour romp, which could be improved with some pruning of the second act.

No emotion is left unturned, no funny bone left untickled. Farce, musical hall, pantomime . . . call it what you will. This is yet another sure-fire crowd-pleaser which, particularly in front of its own people, simply cannot fail.