A couple of months ago, the sixth graders at Middle School 443 in Park Slope were prematurely ushered out of a production of ''The Merchant of Venice'' at the Duke Theater on West 42nd Street because of bad weather and scheduling problems with the cheese buses -- so called, a student named Taneice Williams explained, because ''they're yellow, and they smell.''

When word of their disappointment got back to the show's star, F. Murray Abraham, he decided, with the encouragement of the show's producers, the Theater for a New Audience, to do the next best thing, and take Shylock's infamous courtroom scene to their school.

For a restaging this month of the Shakespearean play on their own turf, nine students were picked to star opposite Mr. Abraham, who has garnered glowing reviews for his portrayal of the villainous moneylender Shylock and is best known for his Oscar-winning role as Mozart's rival in the 1984 film ''Amadeus.''

Tensions were high just before the actor's arrival, as the young thespians digested a school lunch of leathery baked chicken and gloppy mashed potatoes and ran through their lines.

''I pardon thee thy life before thou ask it,'' began Frankie Flores, an earnest 11-year-old dressed for the part of the Duke of Venice in a T-shirt that read ''I'm a Hustla.'' Anticipating his star turn as the suitor Bassanio, Brian Rivera, a 12-year-old with matinee idol good looks and a jaunty popped collar on his royal blue polo shirt, sighed and said, ''I have butterflies.''

About 1:30, the entire sixth grade, around 145 students, marched to the cafeteria to hear their principal, Frank Giordano, exhort them to be on best behavior. One girl with red pigtails and freckles, who was not cast but still hoped to get someone's attention, kept checking her reflection in a Cover Girl compact.

In the gymnasium, meanwhile, Mr. Abraham was already in a quarterback huddle with his cast. ''Remember to breathe,'' he advised Michael Flores, who played the Venetian dilettante Solanio. To Manny Jimenez, who shared the role of the Duke, Mr. Abraham said: ''Don't be afraid to speak up. You're the boss.''

Despite early jitters, the actors pulled off their parts with aplomb. Afterward, Mr. Abraham answered questions like ''Shylock, why did everybody hate you?'' And he regaled the principal with juicy anecdotes about filming ''Scarface'' with Al Pacino and dining with Sophia Loren. ''Sophia's a fabulous cook,'' Mr. Abraham said. ''She makes the best pasta. Except for my mother.''

Perhaps the biggest surprise was that Mr. Abraham brought along his gleaming little gold man, Oscar. By the end of the day, many of the sixth graders had stepped up to touch it, as if its glamour were contagious. ''When I first touched it,'' Manny Jimenez said, ''it felt cold. I started to shiver.''

© 2006 The New York Times Co. Reprinted with permission.