‘Two Strangers (Carry A Cake Across New York)’ review: A hilarious new star bursts onto Broadway

Like unwrapping a present under the tree, you’re not quite sure what you’re in for at the start of “Two Strangers (Carry A Cake Across New York),” the little musical from London that opened Thursday night.

Will I need to keep the gift receipt? By the end of the feel-good holiday comedy, though, it’s been a great Christmas. We’ve got a brand new Broadway star.

His name is Sam Tutty, the 27-year-old British actor who is making a must-see NYC debut at the Longacre Theatre.

With a crisp pop voice — he played the title role in “Dear Evan Hansen” in the West End — he’s hilarious, Shirley Temple endearing and effortlessly magnetic as a puppy-dog Englishman who’s just landed in the five boroughs for the first time.

Tutty’s co-star in the two-hander, Christiani Pitts, is lovely as the Brooklyn-born city dweller who picks him up at JFK. Chemistry is essential here, and the well-cast pair blindingly spark. But the truth is that Tutty is not only carrying a cake, but an entire show.

The guy takes a Costco sirloin and turns it into Peter Luger.

That’s not to say the musical by the writing team of Jim Barne and Kit Buchan is lousy. “Two Strangers” is never less than likable. But I simply cannot imagine it working nearly as well without its extraordinary male lead. 

“Two Strangers” is reminiscent of a seasonal Netflix meet-cute. The 2023 flick “Love at First Sight” with Ben Hardy and Haley Lu Richardson immediately comes to mind. 

Tinder, flirty texting and high costs of living all play a very 2020s role.  

Chatty, jokey Dougal (Tutty) is greeted at the airport by Robin (Pitts), a busy introvert he’s never met before and we soon learn is the younger sister of Dougal’s dad Mark’s new bride.  

Travel is the look du jour in director Tim Jackson’s sleek but not robotic production. 

The clever set of silvery suitcases by Soutra Gilmour suggests there’s been an explosion at the Samsonite factory. Like lost souls Dougal and Robin, the luggage reveals hidden secrets as the story rolls on.

The bright-eyed tourist has never spent time with his pop before, either, and is in his dream town of New York for just 48 hours to attend dad’s wedding. He’s bursting with excitement, even though his scant knowledge of the Big Apple comes from “Home Alone 2.”

“Is that Times Square?!,” Dougal asks.

“No,” replies struggling barista Robin. “That’s Queens.”

With just $60 in his pocket, he wants to dive right into everything the city has to offer. So she begrudgingly lets him tag long to pick up the cake in Flatbush.

“This is not a spiritual journey,” Robin insists.

Spoiler alert: It is.

Dougal sees everything — from his bedbug-infested hostel, to a cool hat on the subway, to a boiled hotdog — with childlike wonderment. As the snow falls, Robin, as emotionally calloused as any New Yorker, begins to melt. 

What elevates the show from an assembly-line rom-com is the way Barne and Buchan balance the genre’s baked-in cliches with sharp left turns and nuanced commentary about life experience and personal connection. “Two Strangers” ain’t packing snow, but it’s not powder either.

The musical comes dangerously close to cloying sentimentality at times, but Dougal’s dry sense of humor and Tutty’s first-class delivery prevents the story from ever getting too soupy.

That’s a challenge as the score is practically a soup kitchen of watered-down Broadway pop ballads with an occasional “The Tango Maureen”-style tune for laughs. This is the rare musical where the songs are greatly outshone by the book.

Next to Dougal, Robin is the less flamboyant role with one too many personal complications. She keeps her cards close to the vest, and the vulnerable Pitts brings on the waterworks as Robin’s hardened exterior begins to crack.

Yet it’s Tutty the crowd walks out onto 48th Street buzzing about. You’ve just gotta see him carry this cake. The kid’s got layers.