Alison Stewart: This is All Of It on WNYC. I'm Alison Stewart. The new Broadway musical Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) is all about dreams. Robin is a young woman from Brooklyn who used to dream big, but now she feels stuck in her life as a barista, struggling to get by. She has a strained relationship with her sister, who's getting married to a very wealthy man, and she hasn't spoken to her grandma in a long time. Robin is played by Christiani Pitts. Robin is in for a surprise when she meets energetic Dougal, fresh off the plane from the UK. He's played by Olivier Award-winning Sam Tutty.

Robin is in charge of picking him up from the airport. Dougal is very, very excited to be in New York. He wants to eat hot dogs and see the Statue of Liberty. He also wants to meet his dad for the very first time at the wedding. Dougal's father is marrying Robin's sister. He left the family before Dougal was born. At first, Robin wants really not a lot to do with old eager Dougal, but she reluctantly agrees to let her help him pick up her sister's wedding cake, and the two begin a journey around the city that will leave them both changed forever.

The New York Times says the show "delivers lavishly on the promise of a rom-com, laughter, escape, and fantasy. Today, we're in for a special treat. Stars Sam Tutty and Christiani Pitts join me in studio to perform songs live on the air. First, we want to get to know them a little bit. Hi, guys.

Christiani Pitts: Hi.

Sam Tutty: Hello.

Alison Stewart: We're so happy to have you here.

Sam Tutty: Thank you for having us.

Alison Stewart: All right, so the blizzard on Sunday caused many Broadway shows to cancel their evening, but you had a 3:00 PM matinee. I was there. We all had our hats on. Everybody was bundled up. Sam, what was your experience with the near-snow day almost show on Sunday?

Sam Tutty: It was interesting. I thought it was really lovely because I think the benefit of doing a two-hander is that your relationship with the audience is so, so personal. You can really see that I've really felt this sort of energy of like we're all in this, we're all out in public right now, when, imminently, a snowstorm could potentially hit us, like record-breaking snowstorm, so let's have fun, let's see what we can do. It's really, really fun to have that relationship with the audience and to be that sort of camaraderie that we have. It was really nice.

Alison Stewart: Could you tell a difference, Christiani?

Christiani Pitts: Oh, definitely. Definitely. You said it best. He was like, "I think people out there are a little scared." You know what I mean?

Alison Stewart: [laughs]

Christiani Pitts: Like, knowing, "Are we about to go outside too?"

Sam Tutty: "Am I going to step outside and just see a wall of snow?"

Christiani Pitts: "In the face with a blizzard?" I could definitely feel the difference. It was nice that people took the time to come hang out with us before it all happened.

Alison Stewart: Before we go any further, you have an announcement to make about the cast album.

Sam Tutty: Oh, yes. Yes, we do. Yes.

Christiani Pitts: March 20th.

Sam Tutty: Releasing 20th. Hooray.

Christiani Pitts: Whoo. Original Broadway cast album with Two Strangers.

Sam Tutty: Very, very fun. Very fun, very exciting.

Alison Stewart: When did you record it?

Sam Tutty: Oh, my gosh. Weeks, months, years, maybe decades, who knows?

Alison Stewart: [laughs]

Sam Tutty: It was a few months ago, I think. I would say just over a month ago. It was really fun. We were doing sessions in the morning and then shows in the evening, so it was like a really-- I remember it well. It was very, very much like a marathon session of singing.

Alison Stewart: What was different about it?

Christiani Pitts: This is only my second time doing a cast album, and this one was just the two of us.

Alison Stewart: Oh, wow.

Christiani Pitts: Normally, in a cast album, you get that amazing experience of stepping out and listening to everybody sing, or you're sharing a mic with somebody, and there's all this camaraderie. For us, it was just the two of us across from each other, and it was scary and beautiful and intimate and all the things, but that was something I've never experienced.

Alison Stewart: Sam, you've been playing Dougal for a long time now. You played it on the West End. What is something you understand about him now that you've played him for a while?

Sam Tutty: That he doesn't intend to be funny. I think that the start of my journey with Dougal was very much trying to play the joke, and now it's evolved and drifted into just playing his truth, which is then, by coincidence, quite funny. He's just far more grounded and intelligent and earnest and genuine, and he's still. I think the most important thing with Dougal is that you have to cherish the moments of stillness, because the rest is so chaotic.

As an actual human being, can be quite physically draining, doing eight times a week. I think just really leaning into be truthful and still when you can. That just makes it so much more fun and real, I suppose. I think it helps me earn the jokes and the laughter if I'm just playing still truth, honesty. It's really fun.

Alison Stewart: What drew you to Robin, Christiani?

Christiani Pitts: I describe Robin as one of my homegirls. I read that script and felt like I knew her so well that I was about to call her and set up brunch. Like, she just felt so close to me in my friend circle. I've never seen that in a musical, ever. I've seen it in different TV shows. I've seen it in different films, even. I've just never seen it in a musical. The idea that this person, who I know so well, gets the chance to express herself via song in front of all these people felt so exciting and almost-- It's so exciting that I got in my head about the audition because I wanted it. I loved it. I loved it. I loved it.

Alison Stewart: Is your head a good place to be during an audition?

Christiani Pitts: No.

Alison Stewart: Oh, I was about to say.

Christiani Pitts: It's not a good place to be. You know what? I had a brilliant acting coach who had me flip that on the script about relaxation and treating auditions like rehearsal instead of an audition. I went in thinking, like, "I really want this job, so let me treat this like the two of us are just rehearsing it, and then we'll see." I think that's what I did. I'm thankful because it's such a-- I just love her so much.

Alison Stewart: Sam, how have you built an on-stage chemistry with Robin?

Sam Tutty: I don't think anything was intentional. It just fell naturally in the workroom, and especially in the audition. There was a clear feeling in the room that this could potentially be really magical and really special. It's very easy to get along with Christiani. She's very, very fun to work with. I think it just formed naturally in the rehearsal process.

Alison Stewart: Christiani, when did you realize that your voices were going to work together? Because you get along famously, but if your voices don't match on a certain level, right?

Sam Tutty: That's an obstacle, yes.

Christiani Pitts: Oh, that's such a good question. To give him his flowers, I heard him sing something by himself, and I felt like, "Oh, if I could just--" We were just actually joking about this offline about he sings when he's on stage, and I'm off, and I'm hearing harmonies with his voice-

Alison Stewart: Oh, interesting.

Christiani Pitts: -that are even in the show. Maybe it was just like this discovery of just hearing him play the role and then hearing ways in which I could move around it vocally, that maybe that's when it was. That's a great question. I don't know.

Alison Stewart: My guests are the stars of the Broadway musical Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York). Christiani Pitts and Sam Tutty are performing live in studio in just a minute. They're performing at the Longacre Theatre. So much of the show is about New York. What was it like to play it, Sam, not in New York?

Sam Tutty: It's very surreal. In rehearsals and leading up to opening night, everyone was asking me that question, and I never really-- I thought, "Yes, it's really exciting. It's really cool and really fun." Until we had that opening night. If I'm being honest, it was the first dress run that we did with invited guests, and people were laughing at jokes that even I, in rehearsals, never considered to be funny. Things like, "Oh, so you're from New York, so you must go up the Statue of Liberty all the time, Empire State all the time."

It's like, "No, I don't do that." You know what I mean? It's like, "Oh, that is actually quite, in the context, really fun." I think that was when I began to feel very excited about this show finally being home and where it belongs, and for the people who deserve to see it.

Alison Stewart: Dougal sort of gets his ideas about New York from movies and from songs, but Robin lives it. It's her real deal living in New York. What are some aspects of Robin's character that are quintessentially those of a New Yorker?

Christiani Pitts: I think one of them is living in different parts of the city in her life. She understands just how expensive it is in a very real way, because she was there before her area was gentrified. She grew up in Flatbush when it was how it used to be. Her understanding of New York and just how expensive it is is so deep and real that I think a lot of people who have lived here and watched the city change can resonate with. That almost like, disgust isn't the word, but that frustration with, like, "It used to be like this and now it's not." What they have to live with that, I think, is something a lot of born and raised New Yorkers can resonate with.

Alison Stewart: Dougal. Dougal, Sam. What is Dougal-- [laughs]

Sam Tutty: There's a thin line. It's a thin line.

Alison Stewart: It's all Right. No, Sam is over here. Dougal's over here. I'm talking to Sam.

Sam Tutty: I get confused sometimes myself.

Alison Stewart: What are Dougal's ideas about New York?

Sam Tutty: I think, and they are. It's funny, we joke about the name. They are very similar to mine. Being from England, my exposure to New York is through the sort of films and TV and the sort of media that we all consume. I remember my first time landing, I was 21, for another job. It completely lived up to every single standard. I think that's what I maintain in the show is that there is never a single moment of New York is not--

At the start of the show, specifically, it does, in no way, not live up to Dougal standards. That is completely presented how it is meant to be presented. That's very exciting for him, that it's sort of like he can literally see where parts of a film-- That's exactly what I did. "Oh, my God, they filmed that there. Then that's the scene where they did this there." Those sort of things that are very exciting.

Alison Stewart: Well, we're going to hear you sing about some of those ideas. This is our first song we're going to hear. It's New York. Anything you want to add before we go into it?

Sam Tutty: I hope you enjoy it. It's a very fun song. If you're listening, dance along, and if you know the words, have a sing-along. Help me out.

[laughter]

Alison Stewart: This is Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York). This is Sam Tutty performing New York.

[MUSIC - Sam Tutty and Christiana Pitts: New York]

This is where we change for the subway.

Oh, the subway. Love it.

You love the subway?

Love it. New York's kind of my second home. New York City.

Is that right?

Yes. The Empire State, the White House, the Golden Gate Bridge.

The Golden Gate is in--

Boy. [laughs] It's the capital city

Of the USA (it's not)

The city I swore I would see for myself one day

But you've actually been to New York before?

Yes. No.

But I have seen Home Alone 2 quite a few times

Are you serious?

There's pizza for breakfast

There's steam in the air

It's candy, not sweets

And the streets are called sidewalks there

My town

Where everyone has an apartment to spare with a skyline view

And even improbable dreams come true

Where everything comes with a smile, a high five, and a side of cheese

I'm down on my knees

That's our train.

New York

I'm already talking the talk

New York

I'm already popping the cork

Because I'm ready

I'm ready to be in New York

Are they ready?

Are they ready for me in New York?

Is that Times Square?

No, that's Queens

Awesome

She's called the Big Apple

No one knows why

But she's my kind of town, and I'm her kind of street-smart guy

I'll stroll up the Broadway

I'll order a beer

I'll scream at the Statue of Liberty

"Hey, Lady. I'm walking here"

My home

The city of stories, where everything's 70 stories high

Where everyone kisses their blues goodbye

The cinema city I've waited the whole of my life to see

Are you talking to me?

New York

I'm already talking the talk

In New York

I'm already popping the cork

Because I'm ready

I'm ready to be in New York

Are they ready?

Are you ready for me in New York?

I'm just going to stand over here

Sure

It's the City of Angels

It's the City of Sin

It's a city of immigrants, buddy, I'll fit right in

The land of the brave

The home of the free

The liberty city, where even my father wants to hang out with me

Home

There's snow in the city tomorrow, just see it come twinkling down

And that's why they all call it Tinseltown

There's hundreds of thousands of people

Just living the dream out there

And there's love in the air

Okay, we're about to leave the train, and then we're going to be in New York

Yes

You're not going to freak out?

No

New York

I'm already talking the talk

In New York

I'm already popping the cork

Because I'm ready

I'm ready to be in New York

Are they ready?

Are they ready for me in New York?

For two whole days

I'll literally be in New York

NYC, JFK, FBI, CIA

See, I'm already talking the talk

And I'm ready

I'm ready to be in New York

Yes, I'm ready

Is it ready for me

Are they ready for me

Are you ready for me

In New York?

Alison Stewart: [cheers] We're going to clap. We're just going to clap for that one.

[cheering]

Alison Stewart: That was Sam Tutty and Christiani Pitts. They're performing from Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York). Let's talk about the dreams in this show. The dreams in this show are so-- They really touch you when you least expect it. You're laughing, and then all of a sudden, something grabs you. What are Robin's hopes and her dreams for herself when we first meet her? What does she really want out of life that maybe she doesn't know yet?

Christiani Pitts: Well, that's actually the thing is she doesn't know. She desires what she used to feel when she was a child, which is just utter happiness, comfort, safety, love, those things that she felt growing up with her grandma and her sister. She doesn't realize that that's what she's missing, that feeling of happiness. When we meet Robin, she has no idea what she wants. She just knows that she's stuck. She meets this lovely person who reintroduces the idea of joy and optimism and hope. I do think that one thing Robin does have is hope, but it's just bubbling under the surface. Her dream is to just be okay again. I think it's a big dream to have, even though it doesn't seem like it.

Alison Stewart: Dougal's a dedicated optimist, as opposed to Robin, as we'll call her, pragmatic, in this case. Sam, how do those two, how do they create a fun dynamic on stage?

Sam Tutty: I think the light and the dark and the optimism and the realism and the humor and the tragedy, they are both so close together, like in real life. What Christiani's done masterfully is find so much humor within Robin's pragmatism. As you mentioned, there is so many tiny looks and just micro beat that changes the color of the conversation. That really, really helps, just, I don't know, keep it light, but also keep it very real. Because I think if it was funny, though, all the time, it's just like, "Okay, can we have some actual material here, please, that we can work on as an audience?"

Then, obviously, that works the other way as well. I think this definitely is a testament to Christiani's acting as well, that really, really glues us together.

Alison Stewart: The next song we're going to hear is about Robin's New York roots. It's called This Is the Place. What's going on with Robin when we hear this song?

Christiani Pitts: She's going to pick up the cake that her sister has sent her on a mission to get. It just so happens that this cake is in the neighborhood close to where she grew up, and she hasn't been there in a while. She's back. She's back out in that childhood place I was just talking about, and all these memories start flooding in. She's excited to show this person who hasn't seen, he hasn't heard about Flatbush. You know what I mean? He doesn't know that in New York, so she's excited to show him her New York. She's just taking him on a bit of a journey.

Alison Stewart: This is Christiani Pitts performing This Is the Place from the Broadway musical Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York).

[MUSIC - Sam Tutty and Christiana Pitts: This Is the Place]

This is the place

This is the preschool where we used to go

These are the streets

These are the dollar vans and delis that I used to know

This is the church

Where everyone knew me by name

This is the place

Where nothing changes and where nothing is ever the same

You want to take a detour?

What about the cake?

This way, come on.

This is the street (What street?)

This is the block where you can pick up whatever you need

$10 shoes, fake nails, a broken record player

Cuban quesadillas and trees

I used to ride my bike around this neighbourhood

I never thought I'd run out of space

And the cats in the bodegas

The kids on every corner playing pickup

And graffiti on the subway, baby

This is the place

Wait

I know this place

This is the street from the beginning of Ghostbusters 2

(I don't know, maybe?)

This is the scene we see Sigourney Weaver

Step in psychomagnotheric goo

I can't believe it

Right over there, that's Brooklyn Public Library

My grandma used to take us to read

And the sounds along the avenue (the lights in every window)

If you're looking for the beating heart of Brooklyn, baby

This is the place

And you actually lived here?

For 20 years

In a tiny little apartment. My grandma, my sister and me.

And it still counts as real New York?

This is Brooklyn, man

This is the only part that's real

This is the place

Where you can come and watch the city on Saturday nights

This is the place

That pizzeria makes the greatest white slice in South Crown Heights

Hundreds of cabs fly by into Manhattan

Hundreds of trains roll down to Coney Island

Thousands of planes fly out and never find

Whatever paradise they're trying to chase.

This is the place.

Sam Tutty: Yay.

Alison Stewart: Yay. We'll hear more from Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) after a quick break. This is All Of It.

[music]

Alison Stewart: You are listening to All Of It on WNYC. I'm Alison Stewart. My guests are the stars of the Broadway musical Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York). Christiani Pitts and Sam Tutty are performing live in studio. The show is running now at the Longacre Theatre. Christiani, this is a true two-hander. Aside from the band, which is behind you, up on a rafter, it's just the two of you on stage the whole time. Not a lot of breaks. First of all, how do you keep up your energy during the show?

Christiani Pitts: Oh man, that's a good question. I try to be as relaxed as I possibly can because there is no space for extra energy. Any moment I'm not off stage, I'm just sitting with my water. Well, actually, that's a lie. I'm changing clothes, but the second I finish changing clothes, I sit and I drink my water. I just try to keep a level playing field. That way, when we are interacting with each other, it's like high energy.

Alison Stewart: Sam, when have you had to sort of lean on Christiani?

Sam Tutty: Every single waking second I'm on stage. Every single minute. There are so many times where we have a conversation with each other just with our eyes, like on stage where it's like, "Listen, I'm struggling right now energy-wise, vocally-wise. Can you just put the foot on the gas on your side? Just help me out." Things like that. Yes, like literally every single second I'm on stage, without a shadow of a doubt.

Alison Stewart: How about for you?

Christiani Pitts: Same.

Alison Stewart: Yes?

Christiani Pitts: Same. One of my favorite things about Sam, I was saying this the other day, is that he's so good about the world of the show that we're in, like saying truth to the world and doing subtle things that maybe the audience doesn't even catch better that's reflective of where we're at. If he's walking through the turnstiles of a subway, he's like manipulating his body to awkwardly get there. You know what I mean? Like just doing something so silly and so small that completely reminds you that, "Oh, yes, there are 50 other people here on the subway car."

There are just little things like that that, to me, it grounds my show. It keeps me laughing, it keeps it alive between two people. It doesn't make us forget that the audience is there, but it definitely does put us in a vacuum so that we can just really play off each other, which I then think brings out more show to you guys. If you ever see the show again, look at these little things. It is so funny.

Sam Tutty: See if you can spot him.

Christiani Pitts: That turnstile gets me-

Sam Tutty: Every time.

Christiani Pitts: -every time. It's ridiculous. It's honestly ridiculous.

Alison Stewart: Do you like having the band on stage behind you?

Christiani Pitts: I love it. I love it.

Alison Stewart: Why?

Christiani Pitts: If I could actually shout out our fabulous MD, Ted is brilliant. There are moments in the show where we reference people who are not on stage. Ted, it's a bit. He will pretend to be those people. He is not lit. No one can see him. It's just for us. The other day he had props full being the person on the other. It's hilarious. Again, it's that same thing of, like, as long as we're passing good energy from the band to the-- It just pushes out into the audience in such a real way.

Sam Tutty: Yes, that's it. It's the morale of it all, like really maintaining a great morale so everyone can enjoy the show. They're like, "Why am I enjoying this so much?" It's because we are as well.

Alison Stewart: It's such a fun show, but there is a serious side to it. Dougal's never met his dad. He really wants to meet his dad. Why doesn't he have more questions about his dad and where his dad's been?

Sam Tutty: I think that's a really interesting question, and it's one that I don't particularly have a definitive answer to. I suppose, if anything, it's his just general attitude on life. He himself has not completely struggled without him. There's just been this sort of reverence to him and how successful he is, and he's never met him anyway. It looks like, "Hey, no hard feelings," until Robin perhaps introduces an idea that there could be some hard feelings and that Dougal is worth more than what he's allowing himself.

Then, when you spend an hour in Act 1, making people laugh, that sort of like U-turn, what you're actually seeing is a deeply sad person. As an actor, taking away all the-- It's so fun to play. That is like the chewiest, fattiest, like, oh, my God. The choices you can make are endless. That's a testament to the writing. Kit Buchan, Jim Barne, and now director Tim Jackson, they have just created something so fun for actors that we can do this eight times a week because it is so interesting and so fun and so dense. Like, the spectrum of emotion in this show is so fun to play. It just means that we can show up to work, we aren't bored, we aren't embarrassed to go out there. It's just a complete pride in our work. Yes, it's really fun.

Alison Stewart: I don't want to give too much away, but Robin has a strained relationship with her family members. How has she been handling this in her life?

Christiani Pitts: She's kind of shut down from everyone, and she has not communicated with people. She's kind of been hiding a little bit and just kind of going to work. It's amazing because some of these family members are the exact people she should turn to to help her in this time, but shame is a hell of a thing, and it really keeps her, I think, hiding is how she's choosing to deal, which is why someone who is not hiding anything is so overwhelming to endure, because you're like, "I just don't want to be seen. I just don't want to be seen. I don't want to be seen." Here he is.

Alison Stewart: All right. We're going to set up our next song, which is American Express. This is a point when we see Robin making a really potentially reckless decision. Will you set this up for us?

Christiani Pitts: Absolutely. You take over if you think--

Sam Tutty: Okay.

Christiani Pitts: I got more here. Robin gets access to a credit card that is not her own.

Alison Stewart: A middle one, shall we say?

Christiani Pitts: Yes.

Sam Tutty: Yes, very fancy.

Christiani Pitts: Oh, yes.

Alison Stewart: Very fancy.

Christiani Pitts: The one with the big bucks. She decides to show Dougal a part of New York that she doesn't even have access to, that she only sees in the movies. She does just that.

Sam Tutty: Yes. By that respect, Dougal and Robin are now finally on an even playing field. It's all anew. It's all fair game. Who knows what's going to happen? Even Robin doesn't know the ringleader of this New York City. We're very excited to sing it.

Alison Stewart: This is Christiani Pitts and Sam Tutty with American Express from the musical Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York).

[MUSIC - Sam Tutty and Christiana Pitts: American Express]

We're buying this tux.

We're buying this tux. It's $3,000.

Your attitude sucks.

We're buying this tux.

We're buying this time.

We're buying success.

Hell, yes.

Now swallow your pride

I'll swallow my pride

I'm Bonnie, you're Clyde

You're Bonnie, I'm Clyde

We're going to be hitching a ride on the American Express

Strolling down the avenue together

Dressed in shoes of alligator leather

Swapping smart remarks about the weather

Do you think it's going to snow?

I think we make it rain

Now that we've successfully defrauded the

Now that we can suddenly afford it

New York City is in such a sordid town

Putting on the glitz, putting on the spritz

Yes, we'll take a bottle. Thank you

Sprinkling a little bit of glitter on my

We're grabbing a cab

Taxi. We're having the crab

Waiter

It's on the tab

It's on the tab

It's on the tab

Cruising, boozing up the Rockefeller

Feeling sweet and swell as Cinderella

That's the finest liquor in the cellar

May I see some ID?

Are you flirting with me?

One more round of lobster cappuccino

Excuse me while I instagram the vino

New York City isn't such a mean old town.

Where am I?

Just stick by my side.

I stick by your side.

Wait a second. Wait a second.

Which one's Bonnie and which one's Clyde?

We're going to be hitching a ride on the American Express

Dance break

Let's go to

Let's get it. Let's get it. Let's get it.

And we're really dancing in the studio right now

I'm dancing. I'm dancing

Ah, pity the rich

Wait, you pity the rich?

They'll never know what it's like

To go to a laundromat?

To only be rich

To only be rich for one magical night

Magical night.

I'm buying those stars

I'm buying that moon

I'm buying these stars

I've stolen this spoon

I'm selling my soul and buying this whole impossible mess

The Plaza Hotel

Just follow my stride

I'll follow your, follow your stride.

Just follow my stride

I'm Bonnie, you're Clyde

I'm Bonnie. I'm Bonnie, you're Clyde

I'm Bonnie, you're Clyde

New York

New York

We’re going to be hitching a ride

On the American

On the American

On the American Express

Penthouse suite please

Alison Stewart: [cheers] That was Christiani Pitts and Sam Tutty with a live performance of the song American Express from the new Broadway musical Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York). It's the Longacre Theatre. Let's talk about the cake. [laughs] Robin goes and gets it for her sister. Why is that important? Why did she do that?

Christiani Pitts: Well, if I can say--

Sam Tutty: You can do it without giving too much away.

Christiani Pitts: You think so?

Sam Tutty: Yes.

Christiani Pitts: Okay. I think this cake represents their relationship in a lot of ways, and she has got to keep it together and keep it intact to rebuild their relationship as sisters so nothing can go wrong. You got to come see the show to figure out why that is an impossible task.

Alison Stewart: We got a really nice text. I'm going to read it to you. It says, "What a delightful show. I saw it about a month ago and was absolutely charmed. It's the perfect tonic for the times we're in. Uplifting but not saccharine, hopeful but sober, and most just incredibly entertaining."

Sam Tutty: That's lovely. Thank you.

Alison Stewart: That's a really interesting thing to say, that it's hopeful, but it's also sober. What does that say to you?

Sam Tutty: Like I mentioned before, like a testament to Kit and Jim, our writers, they've created this paradoxical piece of entertainment that exists in all spectrums of any genre, which is why it's so fun to play. I think that is obviously why it is so entertaining to the audience members. I think they're led down this sort of rabbit hole of what they assume this show is going to be, and then it just does a complete flip, but in a very tasteful, intelligent, classy way.

It's not just trying to sweep the rug from under the audience. We want to guide them through the story as well. We don't want to deceive them, but we just want to lead them down this story that, at the end of the day, just offers a bit of escapism from the world that we're living in now.

Alison Stewart: You know what? You both seem so at home as performers with each other. Christiani, did you have anything else you could do in life that you thought you would do in life besides being an actor?

Christiani Pitts: Honestly, no. No.

Sam Tutty: I wanted to be an ice road trucker. That's actually real.

Alison Stewart: Did you?

Sam Tutty: Yes, that's real.

Alison Stewart: Well, he wins. [laughs]

Sam Tutty: It's not over.

Christiani Pitts: It's not. Honestly, go outside. You should start. I didn't want to do anything else. One thing the pandemic, I think, showed a lot of people is like, "Uh-oh, what else would you do? What else can you do?" That was a really scary time because I've loved this for so long. I do feel really, really at home with this person, like I was saying earlier, who just feels like she was a friend of mine. I feel really grateful, really blessed to be doing this eight shows a week. I really do.

Alison Stewart: You're from Montclair, New Jersey?

Christiani Pitts: Well, I'm from Atlanta, but I did live. I did live in Montclair for years.

Alison Stewart: What was your experience with New York?

Christiani Pitts: Oh, my goodness. Only shows. I had wanted to be on Broadway my whole life, living in the South, but it was not a thing. I didn't see Broadway shows. Then I moved to New Jersey, and we would take the train or take a car in or whatever to see Broadway shows. I remember the first one I saw was Aida.

Sam Tutty: Yes, that's a good first one to see.

Christiani Pitts: What? It changed my life. Then it was like you go, and you experience the city, and you just head right back to Jersey. It's like you just got a little taste of this magical kingdom of a world, and then you go back to your normal life. It's always been like a dream place for me. To live here and do this is just wild.

Alison Stewart: Sam, what was the first show you saw on Broadway?

Sam Tutty: The first show was Dear Evan Hansen. It was the first show I did. Obviously, that was a work-related situation. One of the first shows I ever saw recreationally was The Notebook, actually. Yes, I know. I know.

Alison Stewart: Really?

Sam Tutty: Really. That similarly changed my life. It really, really changed my perspective on what musicals could be. You know what I mean? It was like, oh my God, it was so good. I loved it so much, truly.

Alison Stewart: We're coming towards our end, but we're going to get one more song in. We're going to hear If I Believe. You want to set this up for us?

Sam Tutty: Yes. Well, this is sort of the, I would say, conclusion, but sort of not even a full stop. A comma, I would say, on their relationship. It's definitely the final song of the show. I would say it's just a song that suggests a reflection of what they've experienced from each other and what they hope to experience in life, and what they hoped to gain, and their appreciation of each other in a really magical way. We sort of go through the city, explore, go for walks. Magical effects happen. I won't give too much away. You must go and see. It's a joy to sing. I'm very excited.

Alison Stewart: This is Sam Tutty and Christiani Pitts with a live performance of If I Believe from Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York).

[MUSIC - Sam Tutty and Christiana Pitts: If I Believed]

Stepped outside, get some air

Find a window, fix your hair

Feel the winter on your cheek

Sweet and cold

Take his hand, hold his gaze

It's been a strange few days

It's been a strange few years, truth be told

But if I believed

The life I knew

Was left behind

I've changed my mind

Is it me?

Has it changed?

Has the city rearranged?

Is there something new and strange about this street?

If I could (if I knew)

Would I say? (would I try)

To explain (to ask him why)

Could I find a way?

Out of all the million people I could meet

Of all the strangers

Did I believe the nights like these were hard to find

In lives like mine?

Because if I believed the story's end was predefined

I've changed my mind

And I know he's just a stranger

Heading back the way he came

And I don't know how to tell her

If I'll ever be the same

But I see the way the snow falls out of sight

In the fading light

How beautiful New York could look tonight

If I believed that nights like this

In lives like mine

Could change my mind

And if this is all the dreams come true

I ever find you've changed my mind

Sam Tutty: Can't applaud ourselves, can we?

Christiani Pitts: [laughs]

Alison Stewart: That is from Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York). Big thanks to Christiani Pitts and Sam Tutty for being with us. The show will be running at the Longacre Theatre. Thank you so much for coming in and sharing your talents.

Sam Tutty: Thank you for having us.

Christiani Pitts: Thank you so much for having us.

Sam Tutty: Appreciate it. Thank you very much. It's been so fun.

Christiani Pitts: Thank you.

Sam Tutty: Thank you.

[music]

Alison Stewart: We're still digging out from yesterday's snowstorm. How did you spend your day? Coming up, we'll talk about what team All Of It did, from baking muffins to taking some really exceptional snow sculptures in Prospect Park. Plus, we want to know what you did. Call us at 212-433-9692.