A Whole Song and Dance

Tash (Virtually Yours) spins an appealing yarn in this rom-com about a college freshman trying to juggle a double life. Iranian American Nasrin Mahdavi, a first-year NYU-Tisch theater student, is living the life she always wanted: rehearsing complex choreography, belting out show tunes, and preparing for Broadway auditions. The only problem is that she told her practical-minded Baba and Maman that she’s studying business at NYU-Stern. To keep up the charade, Nasrin enrolls in a statistics course, but when she falls behind on classwork, she signs up for tutoring, and is paired with extremely attractive, prickly white teacher’s assistant Max. Nasrin strives to maintain her ruse, but things grow complicated when she begins developing feelings for Max—and realizes that her cousin, who attends Barnard, likes him, too. Even worse is her parents’ sudden decision to move from Indiana to N.Y.C. to be closer to her. Tash infuses well-worn tropes with a specificity drawn from her own experiences. Nasrin’s palpable passion for theater, and her attempts to keep control of her tenable situation, buoyed by a wry enemies-to-lovers romance, make for a bustling production. Ages 12–up. Agent: Victoria Marini, Irene Goodman Literary. (Apr.)