Lily's Challenge, 2013

This is Lily. That lady holding her is her Mommy- Artistic Director Mindy Kay Smith. They're standing on the set of "Barefoot in the Park," in which Mindy played Corey. Lily is just under three weeks old in this picture. Why is a three-week-old baby at a theatre? Because Mindy (and Daddy Ryan) didn't know Lily was coming. (No need to call "I didn't Know I Was Pregnant." Lily is adopted.) The production was ready to open, and the show must go on. So, with ten days' notice, Mindy became a Mommy. Five days later the show opened. And Lily saw the inside of a theatre before she saw her nursery.

What happens when a little girl spends that much time in a theatre that young? First of all, you end up with the ridiculous exhausted faces seen above. But more importantly...

 You end up with a kid who knows a lot about musicals and loves to perform. This is Lily a few weeks ago at Friends and Family Day for her dance class. At 3 1/2 she loves to sing and dance and go see shows. And she knows more about Broadway than kids at least three times her age. (Of course, even twelve-year-olds don't ordinarily know much about Broadway...)

For the past two years, Momentum Rep has been helping fans beat the February blues with Lily's Challenge. Lily and family post pictures and videos that offer clues about a musical, and fans race to see who can guess first. (You can see past challenges by checking out archived blog entries from February of 2012 and 2011.) Lily has developed quite a following, so we've decided that for this, her third year, we'll give her challenge some structure.

So here they are, the rules to Lily's Challenge 2013

1. Lily is now a person with very strong opinions of her own. She has moods and likes and thoughts and ways of expressing them that are far beyond what she has done for the past two years. Therefore, there will NOT be a challenge every day. Mommy and Daddy only want to do it when she thinks it's fun :)

2. We'll let you know when a challenge will be posted that day, and we'll give you a head's up about the time.

3. Answers must be posted on THIS BLOG. This is a little different compared to other years. But we're looking for the first correct answer on THIS BLOG. Log your guess in the comment section below.

4. Each time you are the first to guess correctly, your name will be entered in a drawing. At the end of the month, one name will be drawn to win a hand-painted Momentum Rep tote bag. (Similar style, for those of you familiar, to our Race McCloud and Don't Be the Bunny TShirts)

5. The challenge may be looking for a show title, a song, a composer, an actor.... be sure to read the challenge carefully!

6. Not all of the clues will be photos and videos of Lily, but they'll all involve her in some way.

7. On some of the days when a challenge isn't posted, we'll still treat you with an out-take. (We already have a few.)

8. Share the challenge with your friends! It's fun!

Break a leg, everybody! See you tomorrow (yes, there will be one tomorrow) for the first official challenge!

~Mindy AKA Lily's Mommy