Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) Review: A traditional romcom | Theatre | Entertainment | EUROtoday

The title is self-explanatory: a musical two-hander during which a wide-eyed Brit boy and a cynical New York lady meet cute en path to a marriage.

It’s a double whammy for Dougal (Sam Tutty) because it’s his first go to to NYC and the primary time he’ll meet his father who left his mom earlier than he was born. His asshole dad is marrying the bitch sister of Robin (Dujonna Gift).

On Soutra Gilmour’s set of piled baggage that serves because the Manhattan skyline in addition to fridges, beds and restaurant tables, they bicker and banter their approach to gather and ship the marriage cake, sifting by the complexities of their respective relationships to find widespread floor.

It’s a traditional romcom format – like a US model of Notting Hill – however writers Jim Barne and Kit Buchan riff across the thought of films and actuality with figuring out movie references from Home Alone, Moonstruck and Midnight Cowboy.

The songs are terrific – notably Robin’s ‘What’ll It Be?’, a humorous pastiche of Christmas crooners ‘Under the Mistletoe’ and the heartbreaking ballad ‘He Doesn’t Exist’.

The hazard of a not-quite-parody of a dog-eared components is that the end result remains to be completely predictable however Tutty and Gift convey a freshness and edge to it that make it appear unique.