By David Greenham

Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) succeeds as a fun rom-com. The musical sometimes ladles on the sugary frosting, but it’s a pretty tasty dessert.

Two Strangers (Carry A Cake Across New York) by Jim Barne and Kit Buchan. Directed and choreographed by Tim Jackson. Music direction by Jeffrey Campos. Scenic and costume design by Soutra Gilmour, lighting design by Jack Knowles, sound design by Tony Gayle and Cody Spencer. Produced by American Repertory Theater at the Loeb Drama Center, Cambridge, through July 13.

Christiani Pitts (Robin) and Sam Tutty (Dougal) in A.R.T.’s North American premiere of Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York). Photo: Nile Scott Studios and Maggie Hall

Rom-coms on stage and film are certainly nothing new. Hungarian playwright Miklós László’s 1937 popular play Parfumerie was such a hit that it was adapted into The Shop Around the Corner (1940), In the Good Old Summertime (1949), She Loves Me (1963), and the box office hit You’ve Got Mail (1998), the movie which, arguably, kicked off an ongoing rom-com assembly line — to the point that entire TV networks exclusively air them 24 hours a day.

The “shop around the corner” in Two Strangers (Carry A Cake Across New York) is a Manhattan coffeehouse, the Bump n’ Grind, where Robin (Christiani Pitts) works as a barista, “waiting tables, waiting patiently for something,” as she sings on a cold morning in December. She’s a stuck 20-something who can’t quite remember her dreams and feels that life is passing her by.

Robin has a strained relationship with her big sister, Melissa, who is 30. On Saturday, Melissa is marrying Mark, a Brit nearly 20 years her senior. Robin’s been charged with several tasks in preparation for the big event, a celebration we learn that Robin hasn’t been invited to attend.

But energetic dreamer Dougal (Olivier award-winner Sam Tutty) was invited. He’s Mark’s son. They’ve never met, but when an invitation arrived in the mail, Dougal’s mom encouraged him to fly to New York and finally meet his dad.

The fateful encounter begins on a Thursday night, when Robin and Dougal literally bump into each other at the airport where Robin’s been sent to welcome him and make sure that he reaches his hotel safely.

Dougal’s indefatigable energy explodes in the very first song, “New York,” where he sings, “Where everyone kisses the blues goodbye.” Robin, a lifelong New Yorker, knows better. The comic tension between the two opposites generates great amusement. From the start, Robin is overwhelmed by Dougal’s energy and enthusiasm. “Are you always like this?” she asks with incredulity. “You’ll get used to it,” he promises. He’s ready for a big New York sightseeing tour, but Robin refuses to be his tour guide.

The next morning, Friday, he pops up at the coffee shop and weasels his way into accompanying her while she goes to Brooklyn to pick up the wedding cake. Along the way, they sing a delightful song, “On the App,” as Robin swipes through various dating candidates on Tinder. Dougal’s charm and Robin’s longing begin to find common ground. Once they arrive in Flatbush, Robin’s backstory is explored. It’s the neighborhood where she grew up, and she’s happy to have Dougal by her side as she recalls the good and bad events of her childhood.

Despite the fact that there are only two protagonists, we come to know about other key characters in their lives: Mark, Melissa, and Dougal’s mom, with whom he lives. “We’re like an old married couple,” the guy says. “We bicker, do the crossword puzzle, we don’t have sex.”

The production is a West End transfer that is still being tweaked for an anticipated New York premiere. Tutty, director Tim Jackson, and most of the creative team have jumped the pond to work out any kinks.

All the action occurs on Soutra Gilmour’s stylish revolving set. Building on the initial airport motif, the set consists of two piles of silver rolling suitcases that sit on a revolving center stage platform. This is encircled with a second revolving stage where the actors can walk or run as they move from location to location. As the pair travels to various spots in the city, the suitcases open and transform into subway seats, an intimate Chinese restaurant, and even a suite at the Plaza Hotel. The set is augmented by Jack Knowles’s lighting design: the suitcases are lined with colorful lights that shine variously to suggest the neon energy of the Big Apple. Gilmour also designed the costumes, which might seem a bit thin to deal with the chill in the notorious December wind tunnels between the skyscrapers of NYC. Sound designers Tony Gayle and Cody Spencer provide just enough car horns, sirens, crowd chatter, and subway rumblings to supply the locations with convincing ambiance.

The set and its many quick-change manifestations have been designed to rev up the show’s tempo as well as juice up the timing of the performances. And it works — perhaps too well. Coming in at about two hours and 20 minutes (with an intermission), Two Strangers is at times a bit of a frenetic ride.

Composer Jim Barne and lyricist Kit Buchen have been working on the musical for about a decade. It began life in Northampton with the title The Season in 2019 and emerged after Covid with a new title and a successful run at the Kiln in London, before jumping to the West End and running through August of last year. Clearly, the piece is on its way.

The score is jumpy at times, occasionally repetitive, but the proceedings are continually enjoyable. The lyrics are snappy, if sometimes a touch too self-satisfied and gimmicky. Dougal works at a movie theater, so there is an abundance of popular film references, such as when he assures Robin he knows about New York City because he’s watched Home Alone 2 “quite a few times.” As he sings about the father he never had, Dougal wishes they had spent time “Watching Terminator 2 together, Eating chicken vindaloo together, Singing carols ’round a tree together, watching Terminator 3 together.”

But despite the material’s descent into slickness, the chemistry and individual performing strengths of Pitts and Tutty are unmistakable. He supplies an explosion of energy, but has the nuanced chops to be powerful during the quiet moments. She has the more difficult task because Robin is unhappy, embarrassed about her circumstances, and lacks direction in her life. Pitts makes you root for the character to succeed, find happiness, and finally to let go a little and live her life.

Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) succeeds as a fun variation on the “buddy” story. The show sometimes ladles on the sugary frosting, but it’s a pretty tasty dessert.

David Greenham is an arts and culture consultant, adjunct lecturer on Drama at the University of Maine at Augusta, and is the former executive director of the Maine Arts Commission. He can be found at https://davidgreenham.com/