Tony nominee Christiani Pitts on her vulnerable portrayal as Robin in 'Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)'

The actress shares what it’s like to capture the human messiness of her role in Two Strangers and share a Tony nomination with co-star Sam Tutty.

Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) is as sweet as it sounds. When a New Yorker barista, Robin (Christiani Pitts), meets the London chatterbox, her nephew-in-law-to-be Dougal (Sam Tutty), they go on an adventure across New York City to pick up and deliver a wedding cake for her sister’s nuptials. And maybe, just maybe, they act out the plot of a rom-com. And it’s gotten even sweeter for Pitts with a Tony Award nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical, among the show’s eight nominations that include Best Musical.

“A 20+ year odd dream has been fulfilled. I've been watching the Tonys since I can remember,” she told New York Theatre Guide. “I have very vivid memories of watching the Tony Awards in summer stock theatres — we all crowded around the TV.”

With Broadway credits including Denise / Jane in A Bronx Tale and Anna Darrow in King Kong, Pitts is proud of portraying Robin in her messy, human authenticity. “It's easily one of the scariest things I've done is playing this flawed, imperfect, soft, but with hard edges, Black girl in front of all these people every night,” she said. “It's very, very vulnerable and very scary. Oftentimes, I think that Black women don't have the luxury of being in the gray area, of being in between while they're public facing. I'm proud that despite my fears of being that vulnerable, I was able to do it eight shows a week.”

Pitts previously played Robin in the musical’s 2025 North American premiere at the A.R.T.’s Loeb Drama Center in Harvard Square. The production opened at the London Kiln Theatre 2023, starring Dujonna Gift and Tutty, before transferring to the Criterion Theatre in the West End.

Beneath the frosted New York snow, Robin and Dougal have personal issues to work out together. Pitts also shares the delight of the nomination with co-star, banter-partner Tutty, who snagged the nod for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical. “I'm a little nervous about what that energy of celebration and joy is going to do to our spirits on stage tonight. I'm really excited, but I definitely think we're going to have to check in with each other first and say, 'Okay, are our feet on the ground?'”

Pitts hopes new audiences at Two Strangers will celebrate the show’s love letter to New York City while being ready for the show’s surprises. “It's a love letter to family and a show about connection. It's best when people don't know much about it and then come and see it because there are so many twists and turns and gasping moments that you can really only experience in a live theatre for the first time,” she said.

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Photo credit: Sam Tutty and Christiani Pitts in Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) on Broadway. (Photo by Matthew Murphy)