The pitch: An original, locally written musical. Strike one.

Based on a fairy tale. Strike two.

Performed by community actors at a community college. Strike ...

Wait — it turns out 26-year-old Rob Gardner’s “12 Princesses,” which is being staged through Saturday at Mesa Community College’s Theatre Outback, is a home run, a darling show that pound-for-pound — or at least ticket price-for-grins and laughs — competes with the heavy hitters. I haven’t had a better time watching a show since the touring “Hairspray” hit the Valley.

Mostly, that’s due to Gardner’s penchant for penning a handful of infectiously catchy show tunes, rosy-sweet uptempo numbers (the soaring “Another Story”; the hilarious “So La”; the brassy buildup of “A Little Fun”) and tender, if mawkish, ballads, all with gorgeous orchestrations and playful harmonies. They’re matched to a book — a deft adaptation of the Brothers Grimm’s “The Twelve Dancing Princesses,” which Gardner also wrote — that playfully spoofs the genre of fairy tales without spilling a drop of sincerity.

It’s a surprise just how well Gardner, a composer with just a few musical theater scores to his credit, along with director Lori Towne and a cast of energetic actors, have crafted such an unlikely charmer.

In its story, mild-mannered King Weston (played by Adam Rodgers) locks his 12 daughters away after the death of their mother, the queen, and a visit from a vaguely prophetic fairy (Lana Shumway) instill paranoia in him. But the daughters secretly escape each night to the underworld — here, a techno-loving nightclub — and dance until they wear through their shoes.

Having to replace his daughters’ footwear day after day vexes the king, prompting him to seek out a hero who can solve the overnight mystery, with the reward of one of his daughters’ hand in marriage. A sweet-faced gardening assistant, Yannick (Nathan Whetten, with a pinched singing voice like Peter Cetera’s), answers the call, but not before a vainglorious Prince Not-So-Valiant (soft-chiseled Porter Shumway) also follows the women into the treacherous depths of disco Hell. Meanwhile, Weston’s brother, army commander Easton (played by Tyler Maxson), plots to usurp the throne.

In many ways, Gardner, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints who has released CDs of his own devotional oratorios, has mined the Grimms’ oeuvre for their most Mormon-friendly tale. Family, a rather large one in fact, reigns supreme; nightclubs and lascivious behavior are taboo; and the story ends with a lesson in trust, for both dad and child.

The musical’s biggest laughs come from Lana Shumway’s Franc the Fairy, a clumsy, overdramatic, ditzy prognosticator played up like a mix of Lucille Ball and Molly Shannon’s Mary Katherine Gallagher on “Saturday Night Live.” Then again, in a musical where the narrator is a lovable oaf named Bob the Gardner (Jere Van Patten) and whose bad guy, Easton, is made even more evil by sporting black faux-leather pants, there are good gags around every corner: goofy jokes and hip, contemporary moments of aside to the audience, yet the show’s wholesome enough for families and completely irony-free.

Of course, the piece isn’t perfect. Sometimes Gardner, as the show’s lyricist, goes for overly simplistic, lame-duck rhymes, especially in more treacly love ballads like “I’d Never Leave.” It’s one of the few amateurish kinks that should be worked out before Gardner attempts to mount “12 Princesses” at the soon-to-be-completed Mesa Arts Center (which, by all accounts, he should). But there’s no doubt even fans of more professional musical theater will be surprised at this spunky, wacky, entirely fun production.