The play Between Riverside and Crazy at the Helen Hayes Theater opens on the Tony awarded actor Stephen McKinley Henderson seated in a wheelchair in a well-worn kitchen at breakfast, looking like a black Buddha in a flannel shirt. The audience silently takes in the clutter of appliances and china laden cupboards. It is multi-Grammy-winner Common, making his Broadway debut, who arrives to great applause. It’s the kind of topsy turvy posturing that occurs often enough in theater. Not everyone is a Common-like instantly known star, but, by the time the play twists and turns to its conclusion, well, we know where the high wattage is coming from.

It helps that Common is soft-spoken as Junior. Piping down as the menage in this sprawling Riverside Drive apartment cranks up is just the right volume. Junior’s girlfriend Lulu (Rosal Colon) is a loud piece of work dressed in butt-cheek-exposing cut offs. We’re not quite sure what granola munching Oswaldo (Victor Almanzar), a drug addict, is doing squatting here, but that’s okay. Henderson’s character, Pop, likes his company. In fact, this place is Pop’s, and since his wife died, everyone is welcome. That includes a former colleague, Detective O’Connor (Elizabeth Canavan) and her fiancé Lieutenant Caro (a splendid Michael Rispoli) who come to dinner with an agenda. They need Pop to sign some papers.

Also welcome is the Church Lady (Liza Colon-Zayas) spouting spiritual wisdom such as, “We are always free.” Pop puts up with her advances, until he is, shall we say, persuaded by her pieties. Playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis constructed this Pulitzer Prize winning drama, a tour de force of funny, sparkling dialogue and many surprises. Austin Pendleton directs well: Common’s excellence registers without flash, as Henderson’s shines.