You have to hand it to Carrick High School, which does "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" with evident zest and good fun, and without defensive prudery or evasion. Because no matter how you slice it, "Forum" is a robust farce about randy old men who have more than a passing interest in the wares of the neighborhood dealer in attractive slave girls, not all of whom are exactly virgins.

But one of them is, and it's she who becomes the obsession of the nice virginal young man who lives next door. And steering their youthful love through whirlpools and clashing rocks of comic lust, greed and ego -- not to mention all those lascivious old guys and the attractive objects of their desire -- becomes the Herculean task of the comedy's energetic center, the clever slave Pseudolus, for whom the promised payoff will be his own freedom.

Of course, you could excuse "Forum's" rather risque story as a history lesson about daily life in ancient Rome. Or you could pitch it as a textbook illustration of theater structure and technique, in which comedy plays out its oldest plot, the successful mating of a young couple in spite of the interfering old fools who get in the way.

But mainly you can do what Carrick did last weekend, which was to have such transparent fun with this traditional farce material and all its well-worn leers and quips, pratfalls and guffaws, that who could object? It was such a sunny, silly good time that even a marble statue of Morality would unbend and giggle.

It helps if you have attractive twins such as Tiffany and Crystal Nath to play The Geminae, a matched pair of lovelies on sale at the House of Lycus, dealer in feminine flesh. The Naths were not leads, just part of Lycus' dancing and decorative stock in trade, but they typified the pleasure with which the Carrick students tackled the 1963 musical comedy, with its story by old pros Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart and music and lyrics by then-young pro Stephen Sondheim.

Actually, the pros involved are much older than that, since "Forum" was patched together out of the works of the Roman dramatist Plautus, who perfected many of the comic plots and gags that are the stock-in-trade of sitcom writers to this day. So you could also sell this material as a lesson in eternal comic technique.

But Carrick sold it in the most honest way, as a frank and funny evening full of comic confusion, raised above the ordinary by one of Sondheim's sunniest scores. It's no knock to note that the score spawned no hit parade standards, because its genius is that its songs are neatly embedded in the story. But there's great variety, from the rambunctious comedy of "Everybody Ought to Have a Maid" to the touching father-son interplay of "Impossible" to the sly charm of "Lovely."

Carrick accompanied that score with a punchy student-adult combo a dozen strong, led by Sarah Giliberto, who also did the choreographic chores. James Charlton directed, and to him must go credit for the show's brisk pace and general good cheer. The cast really seemed to be having fun, which meant the audience had more fun, as well.

Ryan Rachuba led the cast as the ringmaster, Pseudolus, with a deadpan comic style that grew on you as the evening progressed (and overcame a balky mic in the process). The young lovers were played with appropriate silliness and pleasant voices by Stanley Graham and Jessica Norkevicus. Chief kudos for comic chops go to A.J. Szalla as the procurer, Lycus, and Greg Pegher as the nervous and sycophantic chief slave, Hysterium.

The courtesans disported themselves and danced to attractive effect, and the rest of the ensemble pitched in with enthusiasm. Who could fail to have had fun?

The musical comedy tradition at Carrick was suspended for many years, restarting only about a half-dozen years ago, and I believe this is only the second year it has entered the CLO's Gene Kelly Awards. It doesn't have the resources of many suburban schools, but it does have a handsome refurbished auditorium to perform in, one that isn't so big it dwarfs the mortals on stage. And clearly, it has the necessary spirit.