Al Pacino famously spends years obsessing on the Shakespearean roles he takes on, but the results definitely pay off. Such is the case with his Shylock in the production of the Bard’s still controversial The Merchant of Venice that has transferred to Broadway—with some cast changes---after a brief run summer run in Central Park. While his performance in the 2004 film often came across as mannered, his stage rendition is undeniably mesmerizing. His starring turn anchors director Daniel Sullivan’s thoughtful revival which is attracting sell-out crowds.

Set in the Edwardian era, the production doesn’t sacrifice the comedic aspects of the play--the scenes involving Portia’s (Lily Rabe) ill-fated suitors are consistently hilarious--but its atmosphere is mainly harrowing. Antonio, the Christian nobleman, is powerfully portrayed by Byron Jennings as a condescending aristocrat whose barely disguised contempt fuels Shylock’s lust for revenge. Later, when he is about to be forced to give up his pound of flesh, he is chillingly strapped into an antique medical examination chair.

The director’s biggest innovation is the addition of a powerful silent scene in which we see Shylock submitting to a forced baptism. It not only vividly conveys the character’s humiliation, but also his inner strength as he afterwards immediately resumes wearing the yarmulke that has been stripped from his head.

Often speaking in a soft, sing-song voice, Pacino at first playfully emphasizes the character’s wily intelligence and humor, as well as his pained awareness of the marginal role in society to which he has been consigned. But after Shylock’s daughter Jessica (Heather Lind) runs off with her Christian boyfriend Lorenzo (Seth Numrich), he accentuates the bitterness that feeds the character’s steely resolve.

Lily Rabe brings both beauty and intelligence to her superb performance as Portia, and is uncommonly convincing in the pivotal scene in which her character assumes the identity of the male judge deciding Antonio’s fate.         

The supporting roles are also finely handled, with especially solid turns by David Harbour as Bassanio, Marsha Stephanie Blake as the gentlewoman Nerissa and Jesse L. Martin as Gratiano. Christopher Fitzgerald expertly mines the expected laughs as Shylock’s servant, Launcelot Gobbo.

The production elements are first-rate, with Mark Wendland’s striking set design largely consisting of an abstract series of metallic circles that cannily echoes the wedding bands that figure so prominently in the plotline.

Broadhurst Theatre, 235 W. 44^th St. 212-293-6200. www.telecharge.com. Through Jan. 9.