The Tony Award nominees tells PEOPLE about interacting with Broadway fans, their real-life friendship and bonding offstage
Credit: Bruce Glikas/Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- Christiani Pitts and Sam Tutty of Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) reveal their most shocking stage door experience in an exclusive interview with PEOPLE
- The two actors also discuss their real-life friendship and bonding offstage
- The comedy musical has become an instant hit with 8 Tony nominations, including Best Musical and acting nods for Tutty and Pitts
Christiani Pitts and Sam Tutty are enjoying their time on Broadway.
The actors star in Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) as Robin and Dougal, the eponymous characters tasked with transporting a cake to a wedding venue in New York City.
The comedic and romantic musical, which opened on Broadway in November 2025 after a 2024 run in London's West End, became an instant hit with eight Tony nominations, including Best Musical and acting nods for Tutty and Pitts.
While playing strangers eight times a week at the Longacre Theatre in N.Y.C., Pitts, 33, and Tutty, 28, have had their own encounters with unfamiliar faces at the stage door after the show ends.
Telling PEOPLE about their weirdest stage door experiences at the Tony Awards' 'Meet the Nominees' event at Sofitel New York on May 14, Tutty reveals that a heart-eyed fan once told him they loved his “honey-glazed” eyes.
Credit: Bruce Glikas/Getty
Tutty recalls his response to the unexpected compliment: “I was like, ‘Oh, thank you. Do you want a photo?' "
“Listen, Dougal is very charming, right? Sam, not so much,” Pitts jokes. “So people at the stage door think they're about to get Dougal and are ready to shoot their shot. And what they get is Sam. It's really funny.”
Pitts, who was born in Atlanta, credits her Southern heritage for her lack of awkward fan encounters. “Nobody's a stranger to me so I probably engage a little too much," she says.
Now, over a year into working together, Tutty and Pitts have built an incredible bond. The English actor has been with the show since its off-West End premiere in 2023 while Pitts joined during its pre-Broadway run at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Mass. in May 2025.
“We are really good friends," Pitts says. "People comment on our chemistry a lot. We like to think it's because we're good actors, which I think is a part of it, but we have built such a real friendship that playing the stranger aspect is where the real acting comes in."
Tutty agrees. “If I'm having a tired show or if I just can't settle myself, I forget that at the start of the show we don't know each other. I find myself having to catch myself," he says.
Most nights, after the show, they walk home together since they live in the same area.
“The other night, I was in tears laughing. I dropped him off and I was laughing on the way home by myself, looking like a crazy person. That's my favorite part,” Pitts says of her friendship with Tutty.
Creators Jim Barne and Kit Buchan, who received Tony nominations for Best Book and Best Original Score, also know they found gold with their stars.
“We love Sam and Christiani so much. We're so aware of what we're asking them to do every night. To see their work recognized in this way was incredibly moving,” Barne says.
Credit: Matthew Murphy
“It's at the point where they're almost like our co-writers because they've been so connected to the piece and their input has shaped the show a lot. So we, in a way, share our nominations with them as well,” Buchan adds.
Buchan says Pitts contributed immensely to her character in the show's transition from London to the United States. "She's one of those actors who inspires better writing,” he says. “She's made us better writers. She's an astonishingly talented person.”
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Pitts, meanwhile, felt that she was joining something special from the moment she got on board.
“I knew it was going to resonate with people. The script, the book, the cultural references that felt so nuanced and specific to me as a Black 30-something trying to figure my life out in New York, I felt that this was going to resonate with a lot of people. After that first preview in Boston, I remember thinking, ‘Yeah, this is different,' " she says.
Tickets for Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) are now on sale. The 2026 Tony Awards will take place at Radio City Music Hall on Sunday, June 7. The show will be broadcast live to both coasts on CBS beginning at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT, and will stream on Paramount+.
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