Robin Rainey (Christiani Pitts) and Dougal Todd (Sam Tutty) are about to have a time to remember in Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) (photo by Matthew Murphy)
TWO STRANGERS (CARRY A CAKE ACROSS NEW YORK)
Longacre Theatre
220 West 48th St. between Broadway & Eighth Aves.
Tuesday – Sunday through July 5, $69-$299
twostrangersmusical.com
Broadway shows set in New York City have a difficult task getting things right, needing to satisfy tourists as well as native New Yorkers, who will immediately criticize any geographic or sociocultural mistakes while tiring of genre clichés about the City That Never Sleeps. For every Hell’s Kitchen, there’s a New York, New York.
Happily, the charming new Broadway musical Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) gets things right.
It begins with Dougal Todd’s (Sam Tutty) arrival in New York City from London, with a childlike gleam in his eye and a bounce in his step, a wide-eyed ingénue deliriously excited to see as much as he possibly can during his short visit, his first ever overseas. “New York is kind of my second home,” he tells Robin Rainey (Christiani Pitts), who has picked him up at the airport. “The Empire State, the White House, the Golden Gate Bridge.” After a wild and woolly two days — in which, among other things, he stood outside the Freedom Tower, Katz’s Deli, and the Tenement Museum because he couldn’t afford to go inside — he still has that gleam and bounce, a sweetly infectious and innocent worldview that rubs off on both Robin and the audience.
Dougal lives at home with his mother, “big Polly,” and works in a local movie theater. His only ambition seems to be to keep marveling at life. He’s in New York to attend the wedding of his father, Mark, who deserted them before Dougal’s birth. “Technically he didn’t leave me because I wasn’t actually born yet,” he explains to Robin.
Raised by her grandmother in Brooklyn, Robin toils at Bump ‘n’ Grind Coffee in the East Village and just tries to survive day to day, hiding away any dreams she might have of finding the right career or the right partner. Robin’s older sister, Melissa, who is thirty, is marrying Mark, an extremely successful fifty-seven-year-old businessman. Robin disapproves of her sister’s choice and is irritated when Dougal starts playfully referring to her as Auntie Robin, since they are both in their midtwenties.
“My town: / where everyone has an apartment to spare with a skyline view, / where even improbable dreams come true. / Where everything comes with a smile, a high five, and a side of cheese; / I’m down on my knees,” Robin sings sarcastically. Dougal responds enthusiastically, “She’s called the Big Apple / No one knows why / But she’s my kind of town and I’m her kind of street-smart guy. / I’ll stroll up the Broadway / I’ll order a beer / I’ll scream at the Statue of Liberty / ‘Hey lady! I’m walkin’ here!’”
Melissa has given Robin two important responsibilities: picking up the wedding cake and bridal stockings. When Dougal insists on going with her to the bakery, they head off on a whirlwind adventure that takes them from the lowest of the low to the highest of the high.
Robin Rainey (Christiani Pitts) and Dougal Todd (Sam Tutty) reach highs and lows in delightful new musical from England (photo by Matthew Murphy)
Two Strangers might refer to itself as a musical comedy, but it is closer to a play with music. Composers and lyricists Jim Barne and Kit Buchan (Catastrophe Bay, Mona Loser) have written a terrific book that firmly establishes the two characters and their individual and mutual quests. Nearly all the songs feel organic to the story, further defining Dougal and Robin on the outside and the inside. Dougal expresses his longing for his father in “Dad,” singing “‘Dad,’ Is that a word that I can use for you? / It’s been a while since we had news from you / Since your picture left the frame.” In “What’ll It Be,” Robin confesses, “And I stare / through the windows at the world / — this bit of world / that I can see — / and I try / not to think about that girl / who looked like me . . . / . . . who laughed, / and danced, / and knew what she was facing; / who believed / the world / was hers to find a place in; / and I tell myself / this year could be the right year / but we both know / this time tomorrow I’ll be right here. . . .”
Two numbers do fall flat, “On the App,” in which Dougal encourages Robin to swipe through Tinder while on the subway, and “Under the Mistletoe,” a Christmas fantasy they sing in the back of an Uber; it would also trim the show to a more streamlined 110 minutes or so without an intermission. Otherwise, the songs glitter under Tim Jackson’s inventive direction and choreography, Tony Gayle’s sound design that takes us from the airport to the subway to a nightclub, and Lux Pyramid’s lovely orchestrations, performed by an onstage orchestra consisting of conductor Ted Arthur on keys, Kevin Ramessar on guitar, Lee Nadel on bass, Rocky Bryant on drums, and Jessie Linden on percussion. Soutra Gilmour’s rotating set features a collection of monochromatic luggage that open up to reveal a minibar, a bed, and other elements, cleverly lit by Jack Knowles with LED strips and spots. Gilmour also designed the costumes, which offer a late surprise.
Tutty (Dear Evan Hansen) is adorable in his Broadway debut; you just want to run up and hug him (but please don’t). Dougal looks at the city in the way not only tourists but longtime denizens should, with wonder and happiness and promise. Pitts, who has appeared in such other New York City shows as A Bronx Tale and King Kong, is heart-wrenching as Robin, who believes she has hit a dead end and needs to be reenergized. Their chemistry is evident from their first meet-cute bump.
Two Strangers opens with suitcases becoming radios that broadcast sports, weather, and news alternately from America and England until they meld together. It’s a delightful metaphor for what follows, an award-winning show about a British man and an American woman that has successfully journeyed across the pond and is now selling out at the Longacre Theatre, where, afterward, you will experience New York City with a gleam in your eye and bounce in your step.
[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer and editor; you can follow him on Substack here.]