THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
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Music by Jim Barne, Words by Kit Buchan
Kiln Theatre, 269 Kilburn High Road, London NW6 7JR until January 20, 2024
TRANSFERS TO THE CRITERION THEATRE FROM 4 APRIL TO 14 JULY 2024
www.twostrangersthemusical.com
Well, isn’t this fresh? A new musical that isn’t a jukebox show or trading on some feelgood movie hit from 30 years ago. Funny, heartfelt, and unsentimental this is the best new musical since Standing at The Sky’s Edge (also British and about to open in the West End). In some ways it surpasses the latter, as the songs here are better integrated with the book, not having come from a pre-existing album.
This sweet story started life at theaters in Northampton and Ipswich, and director-choreographer Tim Jackson as well as the authors have labored over it. It shows.
Jim Barne has scored several movies, while Kit Buchan is a poet and journalist. This is their third joint effort and it’s like a wonderful mosaic, with each stone carefully polished so they combine into a whole that’s greater than the sum of its parts.
Key to its success are Olivier winner Sam Tutty (for Dear Evan Hansen) and Dujonna Gift who made a splash in Hamilton and Motown. Both ooze talent and charm and could elevate any text.
Tutty can do so much with a look or a turn of phrase and he perfectly captures the roguish charm of the central character here. He plays Dougal, a sweet, upbeat, young English lad, flying to New York for his Dad’s second wedding. A Dad he’s never known, as he walked out on his mother before he was born, and yet whom he hero-worships. The Dad now appears to have made it in the Big Apple and waiting for him at the airport is Robin (Gift), the sister of the bride. She’s a fed up barista, who is there to pick him up but has no time to indulge his larky wit or desire to see the sights. The book has great fun with the language canyon remaining between London and New York – “Like nobody says that!”.
This set-up screams romcom, but it isn’t, and one of the joys of the piece is how it lampoons all those New York romcom movie conventions – “If this was a movie we’d now be….” says Dougal, perhaps too often.
Both seem to be treated really badly by the bride and groom (whom we never see). Robin must collect the cake from Brooklyn and reluctantly lets him tag along while he isn’t exactly receiving a warm welcome. We find out why. As the frost between them thaws, he gently challenges her about the funk she’s got herself in, while she tries to get him to peel the scales from his eyes about his dad.
Soutra Gilmour’s design is simple and ingenious, a big revolve on which sit towers of gray neon-edged suitcases which transform into beds or bars or pop-out subway seats. Jackson’s direction is taut yet beautifully detailed, including nimbly choreographed numbers like ‘American Express’ when in a sly act of revenge they splash out on Dad’s titanium credit card, or ‘The Hangover Duet’ which is about the morning after.
The songs are memorable. ‘On the App’ is an acerbic skit on Tinder dating which draws on Tutty’s deft comic timing, and Gift’s considerable vocal talent is on display in ‘This Year’, a big old-fashioned soulful ballad.
The two characters have their troubles, but don’t let them define them, and the skill of this piece is how it tells their story with such intelligence and charm.
