Book by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart. Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Directed by Cathy Wilmot. Presented by Fighting Chance Productions. At the Jericho Arts Centre on Friday, October 7. Continues until October 23

Confidence and playfulness: under Cathy Wilmot’s direction, the amateur cast of Fighting Chance Productions’ mounting of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is brimming with those qualities. And because the actors are having such a good time, the audience does too.

In the plot, which is set in ancient Rome, a young man named Hero agrees to free his slave Pseudolus if Pseudolus can arrange for him to marry Philia, the young virgin who’s being held in the brothel next door. Philia is awaiting the arrival of the military captain who has paid handsomely to wed her.

The book, which was written by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart, is based on Roman farces, so there’s a lot of running around, there are multiple mistaken identities, and there’s a cavalcade of goofy jokes. When the warlike captain arrives, his soldiers chant, “Left, right,” and he chants back, “There’s none of the enemy left, right?”

The musical’s central failing may be rooted in ancient Rome, but its more recent provenance doesn’t help: first produced in 1962, Forum suffers from the blithely unexamined sexism of that period. The female characters are mostly scantily clad whores who shimmy and gyrate their way around the stage. There’s also one virgin and one shrew. All of the females are brainless.

Still, there’s plenty to like. Ryan Mooney, Fighting Chance’s artistic director, makes a rare stage appearance as Pseudolus. His constrained physicality isn’t quite what you expect from farce, but he’s so buoyant, witty, and unflappable that he’s a joy to watch. You kind of want the set to collapse just to see what he’d do. Michael Wild, who plays a slave named Hysterium, provides excellent droll counterpoint. And Cameron Dunster’s Hero contributes a lovely voice and charming innocence.

Dawn Ewen’s choreography is messy, and under Sarah Jaysmith’s musical direction the six-piece band often sounds uncertain, but Stephen Sondheim’s songs, including “Comedy Tonight” and the sexist but deliciously showy “Everybody Ought to Have a Maid”, are unsinkable, and so is this mounting. It’s a lot more fun than not.