Christiani Pitts on Her Tony-Nominated Turn in Two Strangers, Finding Home on Broadway, and Raising a Daughter in New York
- Broadway Time at Carmine's
- 11 minutes ago
- 4 min read
For Christiani Pitts, Broadway has always felt a little bit like fate.
Long before earning a Tony Award nomination for her performance as Robin in Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York), Pitts was a young theater kid in Georgia trying to figure out how to make it to New York. Today, she's starring in one of Broadway's most beloved new musicals, balancing eight shows a week with motherhood, and reflecting on a journey that has come full circle in more ways than one.
During a recent visit to Broadway Time at Carmine's, Pitts traced her love of theater all the way back to her first role: cow number three in a church nativity. "I played a cow, and in it I got the bug," she laughed. "Seeing all those people see me and support me, my family, and then from there I just kept doing theater."
That passion eventually led her to Florida State University, where she earned a BFA in musical theater, before making her Broadway debut in A Bronx Tale in 2015. More than a decade later, she's now earning some of the biggest recognition of her career for Two Strangers, the two-person musical that has captured audiences with its humor, heart, and unexpected emotional depth.
What first attracted Pitts to the project was the writing. "It's such a fast, witty tennis match of a script," she said. "And Robin, the character I play, she's just so real. She's so regular in all the best ways." For Pitts, Robin felt familiar. She wasn't playing a larger-than-life character or a historical figure. She was portraying someone she recognized from everyday life. "I know women like her very well," Pitts said. "I was excited to bring her off the page."
That authenticity is part of what makes Two Strangers work, but performing a two-person musical comes with its own unique challenges. With only two actors onstage for the entire show, there is nowhere to hide.
Pitts credits the company with creating an environment built on trust and vulnerability, first during the show's run in Cambridge and later on Broadway. "We almost had this unspoken thing of, 'How do we make this a safe space?'" she recalled. "The show is funny, but there's also some really tender, vulnerable things. How do we make sure we're safe going there with each other?"
Of course, live theater doesn't always cooperate. When asked about onstage mishaps, Pitts immediately remembered one particularly stressful performance involving a prop phone that suddenly flew offstage during a musical number. As she continued singing, all she could think about was the fact that she'd need the phone again a few scenes later.
"The words that I was singing completely left my brain," she said. "I was scatting like Ella Fitzgerald. I'm riffing, making stuff up." Making matters even worse, it happened during an ASL performance, meaning the correct lyrics were being projected for the audience to see while Pitts improvised her way through the song. Fortunately, she recovered the phone backstage moments later, and the audience never knew just how close things came to going off the rails.
The conversation also turned to New York, a city that has quietly become a recurring character throughout Pitt's Broadway career. As I pointed out, all of her Broadway projects have been rooted in New York stories, including A Bronx Tale, King Kong, and now Two Strangers. The realization surprised Pitts.
"I'm not from here," she said. "I'm from the South, and New York was always like, 'If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere.'" Her first visit to the city remains one of her clearest memories. As a child, she traveled north to visit her father and attended a performance of Aida. Watching Black women leave the stage door after the show left a lasting impression. "It literally changed my life," Pitts said. "When I went back home to Georgia, I felt like I had a purpose. I felt like there were grownups doing exactly what I wanted to do."
Years later, another full-circle moment arrived when she made her Broadway debut alongside Richard Blake, one of the performers she had seen in that production of Aida.
But while Broadway continues to provide unforgettable moments, Pitts says some of her most meaningful memories happen offstage, with her daughter. Balancing motherhood and an eight-show-a-week schedule isn't easy, but she treasures the opportunity to show her daughter what it looks like to pursue a dream. Recently, while walking to school, her daughter spotted a Two Strangers advertisement on a passing taxi. "Mommy, Mommy, it's you and Sam!" she excitedly shouted. For Pitts, it was a reminder that her daughter is watching every step of the journey.
One of her favorite memories came on opening night when her daughter served as her date on the red carpet. According to Pitts, the three-year-old's biggest concern wasn't the attention surrounding the show. It was that nobody had properly seen her dress. "She got in the car and said, 'They didn't get to see my dress,'" Pitts laughed. "If that's not an icon, I don't know what is."
As her Broadway career continues to reach new heights, Pitts remains grounded by the advice that has stayed with her throughout her life. Asked for the best piece of wisdom she's ever received, her answer came instantly: "Count it all joy."
Considering the path that has taken her from cow number three in Georgia to a Tony Award nominee on Broadway, it's advice she seems to embody every day.
For more information on Christiani Pitts, visit twostrangersmusical.com
