Title: Two Strangers Carry a Cake Across New York
Location: The Longacre Theatre
Written By: Jim Barne and Kit Buchan
Summary: A new original two-person musical in which a British man travels to NYC for the wedding of his father, whom he's never met, and spends a life-changing couple of days with the sister of the bride, a jaded New Yorker.
Highlights: This West End transport, written by a couple of young Brits who have been friends since childhood, is very funny and sweet and surprisingly poignant. It's an atypical romcom a la Once, in which two people are stuck in their own lives and get unstuck by their short and intense encounter, and then are able to move forward in their own lives. It's also a love letter to NYC; Dougal only knows it from movies and wants to do all the touristy things, Robin knows the reality of trying to make a living and pay the bills in Manhattan. The story went places I didn't expect, as we get to know these two very different people, and they get to know each other. It's a great modern pop-rock-musical score with a five-person on-stage band, songs about mundane things and about deep philosophical meaning of life things. The ingenious set is comprised of two big piles of silver luggage in all sizes, that open to reveal beds or refrigerators or restaurant tables, set on a rotating circular stage that provides a sense of movement. Sam Tutty originated the role on the West End and is an absolute charmer, funny and awkward and vulnerable. Christiani Pitts joined the show as Robin on Broadway and is a total natural as the jaded New Yorker hiding a lot of hurt; the two have a delightful yin-and-yang sort of chemistry. This is the only new original musical this season (the others are revivals or movie adaptations), which is a sad state of affairs, but at least we get this one little gem that will hopefully stick around a while (and will also be great for regional theater with its small size and scope). It's the exact opposite kind of musical from what Ragtime is; it's small and intimate where Ragtime is big and epic. But it's just as successful as a piece of music-theater, and illustrates the scale of what musicals can be and do. It also reminds me of last season's unexpected and wholly original smash hit Maybe Happy Ending, which won the Tony and is still playing. Two Strangers Carry a Cake Across New York gives me hope that original musicals can still exist and find an audience on Broadway.
*Once again, I'm using an abbreviated Fringe-style summary for my NYC 2026 trip, since I am in the greatest city in the world with much more exciting things to do than write! Click here to see all of my Broadway-related blog posts.
