Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) – 14 November 2025

This innovative new musical kneads every delicious romantic comedy into one delightful confection—so I hope that they rake in the dough! A two-hander unlike any other, Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) tackles romance, daddy issues, infidelity, aspiring to richness, fancy hotels, messed up families, unlikely friendships, exes, occupational stagnation, exciting vacations, weddings, headstrong characters, awkward relatives, unwanted birthdays, loneliness, cheesy humor, insight, hope, and a little bit of holiday cheer in approximately two hours not counting intermission. Utterly charming and winsomely quirky, this show evokes laughter and joy in equal measures, while also contending with moments of substance and painful truth. Although at times both characters feel unwanted, the premise of Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) is that it’s okay if the people we need to complete us aren’t family. The moments in which the story veers into absurdity are tempered by moments where the characters, in isolation, are processing tangible struggles. Sometimes being truly seen by a stranger is more satisfying and sustaining than the reality of relationships with those society deems most important.

Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) sets up an absurd situation—Dougal (Sam Tutty) is a quirky Londoner fresh off the plane to New York on his way to meet his father for the very first time at his father’s wedding to Robin (Christiani Pitts)’s significantly younger sister, Melissa. Dougal’s enthusiasm is immediately at odds with Robin’s burnout, but both persist out of lack of desire to be alone in New York. Sam Tutty’s energy is frenetic, and Christiani Pitts keeps pace with her nuance and relatability. The set (Soutra Gilmour) is all contained within giant rotating suitcases, and makes clever use of its turntable to infuse commentary about people who are going nowhere yet have a lot of emotional baggage that they are ready to unpack. It gives the sense that even in a stagnant world, the possibility of movement is imminent.

The most significant conflict in Dougal and Robin’s relationship is that Dougal is thoroughly honest about everything and Robin is keeping secrets—some of them quite large. When hijinks ensue aboard the “American Express”, their night on the town breaks down all barriers to intimacy, but not all barriers to truth. One of the most magical elements of a true “will they or won’t they” like this one is that though the couple are equally loving, they are inhibited by different things. Robin has learned from her life to be guarded, and Dougal has learned from his to be open. Their banter derives its humor from these differences—Dougal being awkward to a fault and Robin isolating herself from her feelings as well as shielding herself from activities that run counter to her identity (in this case, the touristy ones). Robin’s identity and sense of self are fragile despite how close she keeps them, and Dougal’s are relatively secure despite how off putting most people seem to find them. They lend each other strength and the audience laughs with them, as well as at them. The witty banter is highly entertaining—a truly commendable work of art by Jim Barne and Kit Buchan.

Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) has very high entertainment value, both in its comedic and musical elements. Costumes (Soutra Gilmour) and direction/choreography (Tim Jackson) heighten the experience—at times, we feel like we know both characters intimately, while at other times both feel foreign to us. As they stumble into an uncertain mutual love towards the end, an intentional choice is made not to have them kiss. Dougal has to get on a plane. Robin has to stay in New York. The kiss doesn’t happen because it would provide an ending with closure, when both are hoping that the story will continue—that this moment will linger on just a little bit longer. That’s also exactly how I felt about this show. I enjoyed lingering in the world it created, and I genuinely wanted to stay there.

I attended this performance on a press pass from Vivacity Media Group.