Christiani Pitts and Sam Tuttle in Two Strangers. Photo: Matthew Murphy
He lives in London. She lives in Brooklyn. He works at a cinema selling popcorn; she works at a Bump ‘n Grind cafe waiting tables. He watches too many movies; she visits too many dating websites. He’s content with his life; she’s cynical about hers.
In short, they are a match unlikely to happen. But that’s just the point of Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York), an enchanting new musical about two people whose paths cross briefly and who share the most revelatory forty-eight hours of their respective lives.
I’ve heard this play called a “rom-com,” but it isn’t. That’s what is so unusual about this two-hander that you might naturally expect to be about romantic love. Instead, it’s about a momentary bond between strangers of a very special, consequential kind. If you expected Maybe Happy Ending, you won’t find it here.
Blessed with a charming book and lovely musical score by Jim Barne and Kit Buchan, Two Strangers is now playing at the Longacre Theater on Broadway, having crossed the ocean from London, where it originated, stopping along the way at the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It tells the story of a brief encounter between two strangers—Dougal Todd, age 25 (Sam Tutty) and Robin Rainey, age 26 (Christiani Pitts)— set in various New York locations. Dougal (armed with $60) arrives at the airport in New York, where he’s met by Robin, who has been tasked to collect him by her sister, Melissa (an offstage character). Melissa is to be married the next day to Dougal’s father, Mark (another offstage character), whom Dougal has never met. (Mark abandoned Dougal’s mother before Dougal was born and made millions in America). Now Dougal has received an invitation to his father’s wedding.
At first, the effervescent Dougal appears to be more “genuinely pumped” about his first visit to New York than he is about his encounter with his father, whom he’ll meet for the first time. After an initial clumsy greeting, Dougal and Robin take the subway to Manhattan together, a journey that thrills him as he explodes with the list of New York sites he absolutely must see immediately: Times Square, Broadway, the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building (all the places he remembers from watching Home Alone 2). Arriving at his hotel/dive on Canal Street, Robin leaves Dougal to go to work—but he won’t let her out of sight, so excited he is to share New York with his “new Auntie Robin.” He follows her to the Bump ‘n Grind, and—over her protests—all the way to Flatbush Avenue for her next assignment: to pick up the multitiered wedding cake and deliver it to her sister’s home. He insists on helping her carry it; he even offers to pay for it with his $60 (the cake costs $2,000).
As they converse on the way to delivering the cake to Melissa’s posh Tribeca apartment, hints emerge relating to Dougal’s conflicting feelings about both his absent father and alcoholic mother, as well as Robin’s about her intimidating sister. But as they arrive, something happens that is both shocking and hilarious, as well as game-changing. (I daren’t disclose it, but it has to do with the cake.) It’s a liberating moment that results in a shared reckless night on the town. Armed with Dougal’s father’s credit card, Dougal and Robin buy fancy wedding clothes; they dance, sing, drink, and wake up together the following morning at the Plaza Hotel.
What happens thereafter is yours to discover. They share secrets. Dougal reveals his desperation to meet his father despite the latter’s total rejection; Robin reveals the truth about Dougal’s invitation to the wedding and how she is indirectly involved. Ultimately, it’s a rare and beautiful story about two individuals who serve as unlikely catalysts for their respective self-discoveries.
Like all the artistic elements of this production, Soutra Gilmour’s imaginative set is special. It features two huge piles of suitcases on a carousel set, which remain throughout as the story moves to various locations. The suitcases serve as set pieces upon which the actors can climb, as well as storage for various props. As the lovely musical score plays, the baggage pieces are outlined in colorful neon bands by Jack Knowles’s lighting, infusing some moments with a fanciful, almost fairy-tale quality,
The charm of the evening comes in overabundance from the performances. Sam Tutty, originated the role in London and has played it all the way to Broadway, is utterly captivating as Dougal, with his boundless energy, nonstop effusiveness, and touching vulnerability. The beautiful Cristiana Pitts offers a tougher exterior, behind which loneliness and longing are eventually revealed. Under Tim Jackson’s light, graceful touch as director and choreographer, their chemistry, not as lovers but as “passing souls,” is deeply moving, as they sing, dance, and connect intensely.
“If you ever need anything,” says Dougal to “Auntie Robin,” “I’m only four thousand miles away.” Let’s hope he returns to Broadway soon.