Expatriate

Description
Lenelle Moïse and Karla Mosley star in Moïse’s powerful, overstuffed portrait of a star-crossed singing duo as they weather troubled childhoods, apartment living and an unspoken, ambiguous attraction. As funny, lively and specific as much of the writing can be, it is when the two women break into song that the show goes for the throat. The music braids together influences from Nina Simone to reggae, fitting the performers so well it seems almost unplanned. And though the play coarsens and broadens in its overlong, Behind the Music–style final act, the unstoppable, radiant performers simply hard-charge through it.—Helen Shaw