Two Strangers (Carry A Cake Across New York) review – sweet, sugary and a sure-fire West End success

Not every hit musical has to be about something seismic or historic, like winning the Second World War, or the Founding Fathers, or the six wives of Henry VIII. Some can be heartfelt, intimate, messy and utterly endearing – as proven by Two Strangers (Carry A Cake Across New York). 

First seen as The Season in Northampton before being rechristened when it was reinvented at London’s Kiln Theatre, the show now settles into a lengthy stay within the cosy confines of the chocolate box Criterion Theatre. 

Arriving as part of the wave of new, homegrown musicals that seem to be washing into the West End (Kathy and Stella Solve A Murder!, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Operation Mincemeat and more are comrades-in-arms), Jim Barne and Kit Buchan’s Two Strangers does exactly what it says on the tin – spending 36 hours in the company of two lost souls who rock their way around the Big Apple, with the occasional baked-good-related hijink. 

The souls in question are Dougal (Sam Tutty) – a cherubic, chipper mid-20s Brit flying over for his dad’s wedding, and Robin (Dujonna Gift) – the 20-something sister of the bride tasked with meeting him at the airport. Dysfunctional, disastrous and downright hilariously paired, the duo embark on a two-act rollercoaster ride through fraught familial drama, earnest musical confession and comedic caper. 

And when I say comedic, Barne and Buchan’s book is up there with the funniest in the West End right now – both Tutty and Gift have the audiences in the palms of their hands with every wisecrack, wordplay and whimsy. Tutty revels in Dougal’s oddball energy (worlds away from his star-making turn in Dear Evan Hansen), while Gift peels away the layers of the curmudgeonly Robin with masterly precision. The pair can sing, obviously, but here they succeed first and foremost as comedic performers – embellishing their two characters with enough nuance and charisma to carry an audience’s attention through two acts. 

Anyone pining for lashings of feel-good rom-com energy will leave belly-full – the audience on opening night were in stitches throughout. Cast out into a city full of dreams, drama and contradiction, Dougal and Robin perfectly sum up the late-millennial paradox – constantly striving for a sense of self in an overwhelming environment that never offers easy answers. 

The tunes themselves are for the most part big, catchy and chipper. There’s also verve – a fantastic patter number kicks off act two, pulled from the sheet music of comic opera and delivered with incredible diction from Gift. 

Which means that Two Strangers is as good a night out in the West End as you can get. Director Tim Jackson keeps the pace fleet – sentimentality is alighted upon, but never overindulged. He essentially captures the experience of a whistle-stop trip to New York – chaotic, bright, bold and relentless. It’s helped no-end by Soutra Gilmour’s unimposing yet versatile snow-globe set.
The rom-com format can go one of two ways – bold or banal. What Barne and Buchan’s book displays, through its conclusion, is a sense of ardent maturity and poise, fine-tuned by years of development – never resorting to easy-win tropes but taking harder-fought routes to keenly-felt catharsis. This is a show that both has its cake and eats it. With gusto.