You may be wondering why Gore Vidal’s politically-themed drama The Best Man needed another revival a mere twelve years after its last Broadway outing. The better question is why hasn’t it been done in the interim, considering that we’ve had endured several highly contentious elections? Fortunately, it can now be seen in a wildly entertaining, star-studded production with the newly possessory title Gore Vidal’s The Best Man.

While this 1960 play is dated in some of its details—although not by much, considering how much talk there’s been lately about a possible brokered Republican convention—its portrait of political chicanery could not be more contemporary.

What makes the play work so well more than a half-century after it premiered is its crackling dialogue, which produces more laughs than most outright comedies. And while contemporary audiences are less likely to spot the obvious parallels between its characters and such historical figures as Nixon, Kennedy and Adlai Stevenson, they’ll certainly recognize the venality and ruthlessness on display.

The plot concerns the battle between two candidates for their party’s 1960 presidential nomination just before and during a convention. The opponents are William Russell (John Larroquette), a highly principled, intellectual Secretary of State with a propensity for womanizing, and the young, handsome Senator Joseph Cantwell (Eric McCormack), who will use any methods at his disposal to smear his opponents.

And he has a real smoking gun to use against Russell, in the form of a confidential medical report detailing a past nervous breakdown and psychological problems. So when Cantwell’s former army buddy (Jefferson Mays) shows up with information apparently proving a past homosexual dalliance, Russell is faced with the ethical dilemma or whether or not to use it in retaliation.

Spurring him on to counterattack with full force is the plain-talking, former President Hockstader (James Earl Jones), who keeps both men guessing as to who he’ll finally endorse.

Other characters figuring in the past-paced action include Russell’s loyal wife Alice (Candice Bergen), willing to put up appearances even though the marriage is all but over; political grande dame Sue-Ellen Gamadge (Angela Lansbury), who’s seen it all; Russell’s loyal campaign manager (Michael McKean) and Cantwell’s flighty, Southern belle wife (Kerry Butler).

Director Michael Wilson’s atmospheric production has the theater festooned with political banners, television screens showing fake news footage; and a commentator delivering his broadcasts from one of the side boxes.

More importantly, he delivers a fast-paced, galvanizing staging that features one of the best ensemble casts seen on Broadway in recent years. This all-star assemblage of superb performers produces a visceral excitement, and for the most part they don’t disappoint. The old pros Jones and Lansbury show that they can still command the stage in their eighties, with the former particularly powerful as the dying ex-president; Larroquette, usually seen in smarmier roles, is very effective as the principled, joke-cracking Russell; a de-glamorized Bergen is touchingly sympathetic as the publicity-averse wife; and McCormack, although not quite convincing at first, gets stronger as the evening progresses. And veteran character actor Dakin Matthews makes the most of his brief scenes as a befuddled senator.

This is a superb revival of a play that only seems to get more and more relevant every four years. It should be mandatory viewing before Election Day.

Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, 236 W. 45th St. www.thebestmanonbroadway.com. Through July 8.