Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) arrives on Broadway at a moment when IRL human connection feels increasingly elusive. The newly released “New York” video recording session suggests creators Jim Barne and Kit Buchan understand this cultural tension, crafting a musical that hopes to find meaning in chance encounters and shared errands—the kind of serendipitous moments our hyperconnected yet isolated world rarely allows.
The premise feels deliberately analog: two people forced into proximity, navigating a city on foot rather than through screens. Sam Tutty’s wedding-crashing son reconnecting with absent family and Christiani Pitts’ duty-bound New Yorker managing family logistics creates a clash that mirrors our current cultural divide.
Broadway has been hungry for original material that doesn’t rely on IP or nostalgia (after all, Maybe Happy Ending won last year’s Tony for Best Musical), making this show’s journey from the UK to regional theater particularly noteworthy. Its success in London and Boston suggests audiences are craving stories about authentic human moments over spectacle-driven entertainment (even though Stranger Things: The First Shadow is still drawing a crowd despite a tepid critical response).
Opening November 20 at the Longacre Theatre, will Broadway audiences embrace a musical about slowing down and human connection in the city that never sleeps?
Here’s a first look at “New York”:
