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That brings us to Robert Cuccioli's Lockhart, another performance that's just as good as the Broadway original, yet one on which he puts his own stamp. Jersey has seen Cuccioli as a Manhattan gambler ("Guys and Dolls"), a Scottish upstart ("Macbeth"), a Roman orator ("Julius Caesar") and many other characters. Here, though, Cuccioli must adopt an Irish brogue, and he does it very well.

What makes his performance most arresting is that he carries a great deal more world-weariness than Ciaran Hands did on Broadway. Hands' Lockhart wanted to stir up mischief, and was single-minded in his pursuit; Cuccioli instead seems to wonder why he has this destructive need inside him.

The one he's after is Sharky, and he manages to scare him almost to death.

NEW JERSEY

Did you know that when the Devil takes human form, he doesn’t necessarily make an effort to fit in?

That’s clear as day when Mr. Lockhart (Robert Cuccioli) makes his entrance in the George Street Playhouse’s solid, vigorously well-acted, ultimately heart-wrenching production of “The Seafarer.” The four men he will soon join in a more-than-life-or-death poker game are dressed in cheap, casual disarray or with discount-store fashion judgment. Mr. Lockhart wears a beautifully tailored three-piece gray suit with matching overcoat, standing out like a Park Avenue lawyer at a blue-collar bar.

METROMIX Jersey Shore

However, just when the audience has gotten comfortable with the characters onstage, McPherson introduces two new players shortly before intermission: Nicky, a local played by Matthew Boston who has fallen out of Sharky's good graces, and Mr. Lockhart, a mysterious figure who has unfinished business with one of the play's characters. Played by Tony Award nominee Robert Cuccioli, Lockhart is a character of real menace and danger who also is not without the audience's sympathy in some of his more revelatory moments.

But Lockhart — in a chilling portrayal by Robert Cuccioli — isn't there by chance. He's on an other-worldly mission to exact a severe payoff from Sharky left over from a previous encounter.

Cuccioli gives a finely orchestrated performance, first appearing as a self-controlled gentleman who is both amused by and comfortable with the quartet of tipplers, but gradually mixing in measures of weariness, loneliness and rage.

And as a most appealing, and mostly smiling, Mr. Lockhart, the Devil himself, Robert Cuccioli makes his George Street debut. Earlier this season he played Salieri in Amadeus in Madison, but this is a very different role that shows just how far ranging he has become as an actor. As in many Irish works, so much of the role is in what is not being said. A slight tilt of the head, a tiny vestige of a smile speaks volumes. Armed with a nice Irish brogue, he delivers a long speech and, if you listen carefully, you will find, hidden therein, an explanation of the show’s title. But he also finds much of his character in just sitting, a hint of amusement on his face, and merely observes.

The interplay between Richard, Sharky, and Ivan is probably entertaining enough to sustain an evening, but the play transforms altogether with the arrival of two further visitors: Richard’s friend and Sharky’s adversary, Nicky (Matthew Boston) and the mysterious, coiffed, and elegant Mr. Lockhart (Robert Cuccioli).

The performances are spectacular, with two standouts amongst an outstanding cast. Robert Cuccioli (last seen on a New Jersey stage as an excellent Salieri in the Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey’s “Amadeus”) is masterful as Mr. Lockhart. Cuccioli’s brogue, halfway between a growl and a chuckle, is the perfect testament to temptation. The problem with evil, after all, is that it is unexpectedly alluring and even likable. The unexpected warmth and mournful sense of loss Cuccioli brings to Lockhart earns the devil his sympathies.