Two Strangers Find Family in New York

Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) is a love letter to New York City. Through the eyes of both a tourist and a native New Yorker, the uniqueness and charm of the city are gift-wrapped for audience members. As the actors unwrap this gift, audiences are privy to the grit and glamour of the NY experience as well as the people who share it.  

The city serves as the backdrop for Robin’s and Dougal’s complex relationships with their loved ones, as they navigate the expectations and realities of their respective situations.

Dougal travels to NYC to attend his father’s wedding. The catch? He’s never met his father, and his father does not know that his bride-to-be invited Dougal. Robin, the bride-to-be’s younger sister, is tasked with picking up Dougal from the airport, quickly becoming his unofficial guide to the city and his relationship with his father. As Robin’s laundry list of pre-wedding tasks expands, so does her fear of inadequacy and anxiety about the future. 

As the duo tackles their own pre-wedding agendas, they come to find that their expectations are clouding the reality of their situations. The pedestal Dougal’s dad stands on begins to crumble when met with the reality of who he really is. No matter what Robin does to please her sister, Robin is still not invited to the wedding. 

Dougal’s characterization as an optimistic tourist extends beyond the city and into his personal life, where he acts as a voyeur to the world his dad has independently built. Robin’s role as the cynical native depicts the struggle to achieve your goals in a city that seemingly tries to deter you at every turn. 

Two Strangers builds a universe where hope, obligation, and family collide. It’s more than just Robin and Dougal’s love story, but a story of love, its trials, and tribulations. It’s simultaneously ugly and beautiful, balancing humor, frustration, and spectacle.  

Christiani Pitts (Robin) and Sam Tutty (Dougal) fill the entire space without leaving the audience wanting more, an astounding achievement for a musical with only two characters. This dramaturgical choice was high risk and, thankfully, extremely high reward for the production. 

Baggage is wonderfully utilized as a set for the production, metaphorically and physically. Hotel rooms, subway cars, a coffee shop, and a Chinese restaurant are created using the baggage on stage. The opening scene is set in an airport, where the baggage is an obvious way to immerse the audience in the show. As the show progresses, the baggage becomes a metaphor for the experiences and anxieties of their characters, making the emotional baggage of the characters a physical manifestation. 

As a first-time foray into creating a musical, Jim Barne and Kit Buchan created a beautiful piece showcasing realistic emotional journeys. The show’s book creates a vision of New York that feels realistic. The characters are people you could pass on the street or sit next to on the train at any given moment. Outside of their vulnerable storylines, the characters are relatable to both the native and foreign audience members.

These two strangers built the love they sought from the bride and groom, hosting their own wedding in a Chinese restaurant, proving that great love does not have to be expensive, just real. And there’s nothing more New York than hosting your wedding at your favorite Chinese restaurant.