This review contains mild spoilers. 

Two Strangers Carry a Cake Across New York is five years old; initially called The Season, it debuted in 2019, with a new production starting at The Kiln Theatre four years later. It then transferred to The Criterion at the beginning of 2024, with both runs having been extended due to demand. Whatever happened in that time, it’s hard to remember – a seismic global medical event, perhaps – time has been good to the show.

We follow Dougal, a wide-eyed and enthusiastic Brit from Crawley who has flown to New York for the wedding of his dad, who he’s never met. At the airport, he’s met by Robin, whose older sister is the bride. Their relationship is immediately prickly as Dougal’s chirpiness and excitement at being in New York grates against her jaded impatience and wedding to-do list (ft. the titular cake.) 2000s romcoms have done a thousand variations of the uptight, frustrated female lead, who is fortunate enough to meet a man who gradually teaches her to relax and have fun, conveniently ignoring how being handsome, white and male might mean it’s a lot easier to do so  The show skates close to this dynamic, but is saved by Dougal’s straying closer to endearingly idiotic with moments of candour than assured voice of reason, and Robin’s tenseness is given the depth it deserves. The show is a two-hander, and a lot rides on the actors’ talents to keep the audience engaged. Fortunately, they’re more than up to the task – Sam Tutty (Dougal) and Dujonna Gift (Robin) have absolutely incredible voices. It’s easy to see how good Tutty must have been in his stint as Evan in Dear Evan Hansen, and Gift’s voice is equally gorgeous; they both sound amazing throughout, whether they’re singing gentler, more emotionally intense songs or belting at full volume (I’d love to see them do The Last Five Years in a few years’ time.)

The book is also extremely funny (‘Are there any black people in England?’ ‘Yes … my auntie’s black.’ ‘Is that me!?’ ‘Yes.’) and Gift and Tutty are brilliant at hitting both the comedic beats and dramatic ones, and have convincing and fun chemistry. The theatre is small for the West End and feels intimate, and the circular stage is stacked with two piles of suitcases, which open and adapt to form subway seats, restaurant tables and lockers, and have strips of lights along the zips which turn on and off as needed; there’s a great moment at the start when they light up for the first time. They reflect the drudgery and transience that Robin feels in the city, in comparison to her visitor’s boundless excitement at being in a place he’s seen in so many films. Surrounding the cases is a turntable which is used to great effect and helps give a sense of the travelling they’re doing. The opening song ‘New York,’ sung by Dougal, is wholesome and exciting, with some excellent lyrics (‘the city of stories where everything’s seventy stories high’) Robin’s first song, ‘What’ll It Be,’ sung at her coffee shop job, is initially reminiscent of ‘Opening Up,’ from Waitress, but deepens into something more like ‘Used to be Mine.’ Her next solo, ‘Be Happy,’ while expanding her motivations, is thematically and sonically a little similar; in some ways, it might’ve worked better as one longer song.

The soulful, sometimes brief, nature of the songs does mean that they occasionally have a more muted effect than longer set pieces or dance numbers that would be possible with a larger cast, but we are rewarded with the intimacy such a minimalist cast creates, and the inventive lyrics and vocal skills of Tutty and Gift easily hold our attention. Very occasionally it was challenging to hear the words over the music, but the band, high up to the right of the stage, are brilliant and talented. The parody of a Christmas song, ‘Under the Mistletoe,’ is excellent, and the actors show off their effortless vocal dexterity and range as they mimic Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra’s syrupy tones, and again in the sharp, drum-backed ‘The Argument.’ The big night out number – the most vigorous other than Dougal’s opener – ‘American Express,’ is great fun, with disco balls lighting up the theatre, especially when the music suddenly segues into techno to replicate a club.

Robin’s motivations are a little vaguer than Dougal’s, although she is convincingly drawn as stuck in her home city, in contrast to what he sees as a place of endless novelty. I particularly enjoyed that she is allowed to be truly lost; Dougal assumes, as we do, that her coffee shop job is a way to pay the bills while she pursues creative dreams, where in fact it is only the former. He’s able to see the contradictions behind her feelings, while remaining blind to his own, which she can see all too clearly. We see her soften and her perspective shift over the course of the narrative and her 11 o’clock number, ‘This Year,’ is well-earned. The plot keeps developing too beyond the initial conceit, and ultimately opts for a less predictable romcom conclusion than you might expect. 

The show ends – after a beautiful finale in which they duet from the top of the mounds of suitcases – with a clearer path forward for Robin than for Dougal, and it would be nice to for us to get an insight into the direction the trip’s events will propel him in. The stalls were mostly full, but the upper levels were surprisingly sparse, which was sad to see, and hopefully an exception as there was an immediate enthusiastic standing ovation. I would love to see the run extended, not only because the creative team and actors deserve it, but with the hope that there will be a full soundtrack released and it can receive the acclaim, awards and longevity it deserves. It’s so refreshing to see a piece that didn’t pursue romance against all odds, and put the emphasis on the power of brief encounters to change us for the better; it’s tender and vivid, with brilliant performances. Tripping out of the theatre onto the sunny Piccadilly Circus, it really felt like we’d travelled across the Atlantic for a time.

Two Strangers Carry A Cake Across New York is booking at the Criterion Theatre until the 31st August 2024.