MY FAIR BRADY

An actor makes over a techie in a rom-com retelling.

Wade Westmore, who harbors dreams of Broadway and NYU, is a star at his Minnesota private school. But when the gay senior gets cast as Colonel Pickering instead of Henry Higgins in the spring production of My Fair Lady, he feels his light dimming. Worse, Reese Erikson-Ortiz, the ex-boyfriend who dumped him, gets the lead instead. An opportunity for redemption arises when quiet, gay sophomore Elijah Brady (an accident-prone techie) asks Wade to help him become more confident. Wade may get his chance to play Higgins after all—albeit offstage. Could helping Elijah prove that Wade isn’t totally self-obsessed and get senior year “back on track”? The high school theater backdrop adds fun and pizzaz to this queer Pygmalion retelling that includes a welcome dash of self-awareness. Kennedy’s insider-level specificity—from theater games to actor/techie dynamics—will resonate with student thespians and members of stage crews. Alternating first-person point-of-view chapters stoke the slow-building will-they-won’t-they romance and give both boys time in the spotlight. While the makeover plot may seem to some readers to reinforce what it means to be the “right kind of gay,” the story arc lightly pushes back. Wade and Elijah read white; secondary characters are diverse in skin tone and sexuality.

Pretty darn loverly—and cute to boot.