Is there any experience quite as unsettling as a first date? Tom Noonan’s absorbing What Happened Was… captures the hopefulness, awkwardness, and gamesmanship of an evening spent by two colleagues at a New York law firm who’ve spent several years of flirtatious encounters before an after-work meet-up. When Harvard-educated paralegal Michael (Corey Stoll) and Long Island-born executive assistant Jackie (Cecily Strong) settle in for a Friday night dinner in her studio apartment, it’s not so much a case of the sparks flying as the candle flames being tentatively lit and nudged occasionally to keep going.
The two-hander, first produced in 1992 and adapted into a Sundance prize-winning indie film in 1994, carries markers of that bygone era. Michael and Jackie reference songs by the Beatles and Joni Mitchell and discuss the safety and convenience of the still-novel microwave oven where she heats up their scallop main course. And when he rings the buzzer to her place, she rushes around to turn down the music, fluff the pillows on her sofa, and hurriedly remove her pantyhose — does anyone still wear hose? — before tossing them into the freezer for safe keeping.
Under the carefully choreographed direction of Ian Rickson, Stoll and Strong mimic all the false conversational starts, prolonged silences, verbal missteps and backtracks of two people seeking to find their footing on less professional and more potentially romantic terms. The action unfolds in virtual real time, with lulls that can slow the pace to a crawl but ultimately justify the moments when the characters unexpectedly let down their guard and flash glimpses of their vulnerability and longing to each other.
Noonan, who died earlier this year at age 74, was best known as a character actor who used his 6-foot-4-inch frame to good effect as a villain in films like Manhunter and The Last Action Hero. He imbued Jackie and Michael with backgrounds that are full and rich and lived-in — an actor’s dream — and then allowed his creations to discover some unexpected commonalities despite their vastly different class and educational backgrounds. They both harbor ambitions as writers and both are dealing with past trauma that has hampered them in significant ways.
Strong is astonishing, her face radiating a mix of caution and eagerness that comes to full fruition when he persuades her to read her latest work of fiction, a dark “children’s story” that’s shockingly violent, sexual, and twisted. Stoll’s Michael is dumbstruck by the reading, and not in derision that seems to be his default response to situates that discomfit him. Instead, the absurdist yarn seems to trigger his interest. Stoll, who wears his suit and overcoat as a kind of armor and carries his broad-shouldered frame like a puffed-up lion, suddenly relaxes his posture and his gaze softens. We soon see them side by side on the sofa, with him reaching out his hand and her leaning her chin into his palm for a pre-kiss caress. The connection is real, but tentative. Can it possibly last? What Happened Was… underscores the challenges of finding love, and the courage it takes to try to sustain it. ★★★★☆
WHAT HAPPENED WAS…
Audible’s Minetta Lane Theatre, Off Broadway
Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes (with no intermission)
Tickets on sale through June 14 for $55 to $237