Review: Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)
- The Verdict
- Dec 21, 2025
- 4 min read
🌟VERDICT’S PICK🌟
If you’re coming to Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) for an abundance of cake-carrying, you may be disappointed—but you’ll quickly find there’s something much sweeter on offer. What it lacks in cake, however, it makes up for tenfold in its brilliant wit and effervescent charm. The latest West End import in a seemingly unstoppable run of successes, Two Strangers is the kind of rom-com musical that pulls at your heartstrings while keeping a smile firmly on your face.
This two-hander follows Dougal Todd, a young British man visiting New York for the first time for his estranged father’s wedding, and Robin Rainey, the bride’s sister and a no-nonsense New Yorker with little patience for Dougal’s touristy enthusiasm. From their meet-cute at JFK to the titular, cake-carrying task that sends them trekking across the city, the two never stop bouncing off each other, their clashing perspectives on New York fueling much of the show’s comedy. The first act builds to the showstopper “American Express,” as they tear up the city on Dougal’s dad’s credit card.
However, per the laws of a rom-com, their falling out toward the beginning of the second act comes as no surprise to the audience. This is the only place where the show sags a bit, though both solo numbers the characters have are fantastic. The writing is at its best when the characters are together and constantly foiling each other, and without that, it loses momentum. Unsurprisingly, reconciliation follows, and when the two reunite, the show snaps back into place with a hilarious and then genuinely emotional ending.
To play these two brilliantly written and nuanced characters takes phenomenal performers, and those are found in the golden retriever-like Sam Tutty (Dougal) and Phoenix Best (Robin). Tutty not only has a fantastic, youthful voice but bounces across the stage in a way that will make the audience cringe, yet immediately fall in love with his well-meant antics. He kicks the performance off with a bang in “New York,” the musical’s standout number, setting a high bar off the bat that the show continues to meet. For the first act, he plays the eager first-time tourist, but when the second act takes a more emotional turn, he believably executes that switch. Tutty is giving one of the best Broadway debuts of the season and is offering a must-see performance.
Phoenix Best, the standby for Robin who was on for my performance, was equally fantastic. She perfectly captured the closed-off, semi-stereotypical New Yorker attitude that foils Dougal’s, but her character is so much more than that. Constantly navigating difficult familial situations and an estranged relationship with her once-close grandmother (a plotline that could have been expanded), her character carries more emotional weight throughout the show. The writing definitely (and I’d guess unintentionally) favors Dougal, but Best still brought out all of Robin’s character despite her less filled-out story.
Marking the professional debut of its writers, Jim Barne and Kit Buchan, Two Strangers has had a few developmental runs in the UK before a West End run in 2024, followed by a transatlantic journey to Cambridge, Mass., for a 2025 summer run at the American Repertory Theatre. Finally, having arrived in its home city this fall, it has taken New York by storm. Barne and Buchan have crafted a hilarious book full of cringeworthy one-liners and New York jokes, but still allow the show to embrace the more emotional aspects. The score is phenomenal and incredibly clever as well. From the aforementioned uptempo hits, “New York” and “American Express,” to the somber “About to Go In,” it is varied in emotion while still staying within the contemporary musical theatre genre. A special note has to be given to the funniest song I’ve heard in a while, “On the App,” as Dougal scrolls through Robin’s Tinder page, commenting on the men popping up, eliciting a never-ending laughter throughout the whole song.
Overseen by director and choreographer Tim Jackson, this show has been carefully crafted into a cohesive whole. The set, designed by Soutra Gilmour, was my favorite of 2025. At first glance, it is straightforward: two mountains of suitcases on a double revolve. However, once the show begins, the actors open specific trunks to reveal a closet, a bar, a radio, or a Chinese restaurant, among other things. Her design is so detailed and always full of surprises, making ingenious use of the show's particular theme. Perhaps the mountains of luggage are also meant to suggest the loads of emotional baggage that people can bring with them, and how specific moments are needed for it all to be released. Jack Knowles’ lighting design, too, is simple, yet fantastic. Sticking to color themes for each character, his minimalistic settings are very effective. Tony Gayle’s sound design is excellent as well, filling the theatre with the sounds of New York, making me wonder whether the sirens I heard were passing by on 48th Street or being pumped through the speakers.
Two Strangers is a near-perfect rom-com musical: witty and clever, yet reflective, gently nudging audiences to think about what family really means to them. Crucially, the show never tips fully into sentimentality, keeping its emotional beats grounded in humor and charm. Like the city it celebrates, Two Strangers thrives on contradiction, finding something heartfelt in the messiness along the way. In the end, the cake is never really the point—what matters is who you choose to carry it with, and how far you’re willing to go once it starts to fall apart.
4.5/5 stars
2 hours and 15 minutes, one intermission
Longacre Theatre
