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>> We are going to Broadway kind of. We're

like a few blocks from Broadway.

>> Throw some jazz hands.

>> Yes. All right. Emily Grapho has got it.

We are speaking with the Tony nom Tony

Award nominated director and

choreographer Tim Jackson who's

nominated for best director for Two

Strangers Carry a A Case Across a Cake

Across New York. Uh Tim directs Better

Than I Can Read. And also with us is

Chris Rouser from the Bloomberg Pursuits

team where he's uh editor at large. The

romantic comedy follows a Brit who lands

in New York for his aranged father's

wedding. He's picked up by Robin, the

sister of the bride. They have an

adventure through New York City. Tim,

did I get it right? Did I summarize it

for people who haven't seen it?

>> Yeah, that's perfect. And you haven't

given too much away, so that's exciting.

>> Okay, good. Good. Well, first of all,

congratulations on on the nomination. Uh

that's really really cool. the awards

coming up uh this Sunday. Just talk to

us a little bit about your approach uh

in in creating a a musical that has such

wide appeal.

>> Um well, from the second I got the

script, I I sort of knew it could have

wide appeal appeal because the

characters are so relatable. What's uh

what's brilliant about the two of them

is Dooall and Robin are seemingly quite

ordinary people who are leading quite

conventional lives and then they're

thrown into this orbit with each other

and then have this wild um 48 hours in

New York together. So I mean the show is

a love letter to New York and so I my

focus always was to make sure that they

were having the most playful and fun and

exciting adventure through the city that

they could. Um, and with the two actors

that we have, that's been very easy

because they're so funny and so

brilliant and yeah, they they bring a

lot of joy. Let's put it that way. So,

the show is a love letter to New York,

but it's not from New York. Uh, it

started in Ipsswitch in Northampton. Can

you can you tell us a story of how you

came to be a part of this show and where

it originated?

>> Yeah, so I was brought on on board in

2018 as a drama tur. So, I was I was

brought on to help develop the the

writing and um to work with the the two

brilliant writers, Kit Bucken and Jim

Barn, to sort of finesse it and give it

some shape. And then after about three

workshops, I uh we were we were doing a

sort of presentation and the producers

said, "We feel like maybe you are the

right person to direct it." So, at that

point, I was brought on to do these

regional productions and then it's been

on an epic journey. So we we did it in

these two um theaters that you've

mentioned and then we brought it to off

West End um to a theater called the Kilm

Theater and that's where Sam Tutty who's

now on Broadway joined our our process

and then we took it to the West End and

then we took it to Art in Boston where

we did more rewrites on it and we gained

our our uh Broadway leading lady

Cristiani Pittz um who joined us there

and we did lots of rewrites then and

especially having an American woman play

the role of um Robin who is American

character sort of opened up some um

doors for us um and then yeah final few

bits of tweaks and then then we were on

Broadway.

>> So no one is a New Yorker in in two

straight up.

>> No, no one is a New Yorker. We have all

the way through um sort of made sure

that we involve as many Americans in the

creation of it as possible. My husband

is American which is helpful. Um and uh

and and yeah, we've we've sort of made

sure one of our producers is American.

Um and so we've sort of been doing as

much homework as we possibly could. Um

but a lot of the show is sort of seeing

seeing New York through the perspective

of an outsider. Um, and so, uh, what's

actually been really lovely about the

response to the show is quite a lot of

people have said, uh, who are native New

Yorkers have been like, "Oh, this show's

made me sort of reall in love with New

York again, cuz you sort of get to see

it through those fresh eyes and and and

feel the excitement of what it's like to

arrive into the city for the first time

and and uh and see all the secrets and

treasures that are sort of hidden."

Tim, how did you approach, you know,

doing homework, learning about kind of

the essence of New York, uh, to to to

fulfill this director role?

>> Well, I'd been very lucky that two years

ago I choreographed a musical on

Broadway called Merrily Roll Along. Um,

that

>> it did okay. All right.

>> Yeah, it did all right. Yeah. Um, and so

I'd I'd got to be around uh for that uh

for the duration of the show and then I

stayed in New York for another six

months after that. Um, and so I really I

got sort of time to fully immerse myself

and I went to the different locations

where the show was taking place cuz

because this other show, the Two

Strangers had been in development since

2018, I already knew I was doing it. I

didn't necessarily think we'd get to

Broadway, but at the time I was like,

well, I'm here, so I should make sure

I've been to Flatbush. I've I've walked

the roots. I've I've walked the roots

around China Chinatown. I've sort of

experienced it as much as possible to

try and make sure things were authentic

and took lots and lots of pictures to to

share with the the writing team and the

designers, etc. So, New York is

notoriously tough, and that's partly

what the show is about, but Broadway is

notoriously tough, especially for a new

musical. And you guys went from the West

End to the US pretty quickly. My

understanding is you're you had a pretty

strictly limited run in the West End.

Why come so quickly to the US when it is

so dicey uh for new musicals?

>> Yeah, I it's well, I'm glad that we did

and well done to our producers for

making it happen because it is brave. I

think um we had recorded an album in the

UK that had really caught fire and lots

of people were streaming it in America

and we were able to see that there was

an appetite in New York. Um and we've

since then recorded another album with

the uh Broadway cast and that's going

bananas as well. So I think we knew

there was an appetite and the song the

opening song of the show New York had

had gone viral and we were getting a lot

of love from America and people saying

please bring it over, please bring it

over. So, I think there it certainly is

a risk for our producers. Um, but one

that seems to be paying off so far

because I think a lot of shows open just

before the Tony's, but ours um was open

well well um before the end of last

year. So, we've sort of we've been we've

been doing pretty pretty good business,

I think. And and the the nicest thing is

that you can feel that there's a um a

buzz there's a build in a buzz. Um, I

feel like people are talking about the

show more and more, which we're

obviously thrilled about because we

started off this show in tiny studio

theaters which seat 30 people and now

we're at the Longacre. So, it's it's an

exciting evolution for the piece.

>> We're speaking with Tim Jackson, the

Tony Award nominated director and

choreographer of Two Strangers Carry a

Cake Across New York. Tim, uh, the North

American tour will start in fall of

2027, and I'm I'm I'm wondering about a

couple things with regard to going from

doing this in in London to then doing

this in on Broadway and then taking it

across North America on tour. Does the

experience is the experience different

or will it be different than somebody

seeing it on Broadway?

>> Um I I can't tell until we get there, I

suppose. I mean, my intention is to make

it as good as it can possibly be and and

I wouldn't want it to be any lesser than

watching a show on Broadway. Um, I think

there's something about seeing a show

come into your local theater that's

really exciting because you sort of

watch that space transform as another

little gem arrives into it. So, um, I

think that's exciting. I think we'll

still be aiming for like the most

stellar casting and and the the elements

will be the same. So, the the you'll be

seeing the best version of the show that

we can have going around the country.

Um, so yeah, that's certainly the

intention. We're re we're so excited

about the tour because it we want to

connect with as many people as possible

and and we feel like it's a it's a very

relatable show for for all of America.

It's not just for it's not aimed at

Broadway audiences. It's aimed at every

person. I I'm really passionate about

making theater for anyone and everyone.

>> It's also a small show which makes it

easier for it to transfer around the US.

for at the Tony's, you're up against

some huge shows that are were

capitalized for three, four times as

much as you guys spent to put the show

together. How does it feel to be kind of

like the small but mighty contender in

that space?

>> It feels lovely. You know, I what's nice

is that I think all the shows in the

categories are quite individual and uh

quite discreet from each other and

therefore we just have to get on and do

our own thing. I think I it's nice

you've described it as small as small

and mighty because I think that is how

we feel about it. It it it has two

characters in it, but unanimously it

feels like when people leave they were

like, "Oh my gosh, it's so much bigger

than I thought it was going to be." And

there's a feeling of scale and epicness.

I think Suture Gilmore, who's our set

designer, who's also nominated for a

Tony Award, has done the most beautiful

job at creating a space that's sort of

ever evolving and and we're on a double

turntable, so it's always moving and

especially towards the end of the show,

it gets the visuals become bigger and

bigger as we go through, which um so I

think the nice thing is we we feel like

we're delivering um in terms of scale

and uh and a and a sense of bigness, I

suppose, and and people come out the

other end of the show and are like, "Oh,

I sort of forgot it was only two people

and I sort of felt like I'd connected

with everyone in the room. So, I think

the the sort of connectivity between

strangers is something that sort of

bleeds into the auditorium and and sort

of lifts the piece. Um, and yeah, and it

means there you can't really compare any

of our our shows in the different

category in the different um in their

best musical category. I think they are

they're really different and and I think

they're all brilliant and um yeah, so we

just have to get on with it and just

make sure that what we're doing at the

Longacare is the best that we can make

happen.

>> So two people on stage, eight Tony

nominations. This is your first time

directing on Broadway. Yes.

>> Yes.

>> And your first time directing on

Broadway, you are nominated for a Tony.

How does that feel?

>> It feels wild. It feels absolutely wild.

It feels so exciting and I I do you know

I was so nervous on the day of the

nominations but not for me. I just

really wanted it for Kitten Jin the

writers and I really wanted it for Sam

and Christiani and everything else that

came along is a blessing and I'm very

happy for Sutra and Lux Pyramid who's

our orchestrator um because I think he's

done an amazing job. But it I just I I

was just rooting for them. And so when

that when that news came through, it was

so exciting. And then the um the fact

that I got a nomination, too, I I was

surprised and delighted. And I'm

actually in rehearsals for another show

at the moment. I'm doing um this musical

Something Rotten in the UK. And uh I had

to go back into rehearsals after finding

out and sort of pretend like nothing had

happened. But my my brain was slightly

elsewhere that afternoon. But um yeah, I

feel really proud and chuffed and I've I

watched the Tony Awards from the UK on

YouTube as I was growing up. Um and I

was always very admiring of it, but I

didn't really think I would necessarily

be part part of that nominated gang. So

I um yeah, I'm chuffed to bits.

>> Well, we are chuffed that you joined us

here on Bloomberg Business Week Daily.

So thank you so much for doing that and

congratulations on the musical and on

the nominations too. Tim Jackson, Tony

Award nominated director in choreography

of Two Strangers Carry a Cake Across New

York and our own award-winning Chris

Rouser from the Bloomberg Pursuits team.

He is a theater afficionado and he I'm

always grateful when you join us on the

program, Chris. So, thank you for coming

today.