The thought caromed around my mind in between heady bouts of pure glee as I watched the new Broadway revival of the musical, directed and choreographed by Josh Rhodes, a rising star now fully risen. In prospect the notion of a revival struck me as premature. “Spamalot” again, already? The show closed on Broadway in 2009 after a run of almost four years. But within just a few blissful minutes any reservations were vanquished. In fact the arrival of this production, blazing like a burst of summer sunshine as winter draws near, seems perfectly timed. Who could resist the impulse to bask in a couple of hours of deliriously funny escapism at a time when the world seems to be getting grimmer by the day? Among other things, this joyously juvenile and sublimely funny travesty of legend reminds us that people in the Middle Ages were probably as buffoonish—and bloodthirsty-as they are today.