The Ordway Center for the Performing Arts’ newly announced 2026-2027 Broadway at the Ordway series includes a big surprise in “Oh, Mary!”

The dark comedy won two Tony Awards and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Subscriptions for the six-show season start at $195 and are on sale now via ordway.org. Individual tickets for “Dirty Dancing: The Musical” are on sale now, with single tickets for the other shows going on sale later this spring.

The season includes:

“Dirty Dancing: The Musical” (Aug. 12-Sept. 6): The first of four shows in the season based on movies, “Dirty Dancing” transports the 1987 Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey smash to the stage. Set in the summer of 1963, it follows a young woman who falls in love with her dance instructor. St. Paul will be the debut for a new North American tour of the musical.

“Mystic Pizza” (Oct. 6-11): The 1988 rom-com flopped but also managed to launch the career of Julia Roberts. A musical adaptation of the film was a gag in the second season of “30 Rock” in 2007 and became a reality when the show debuted in 2021 in Maine. It includes a series of ’80s pop hits, including “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” “The Power of Love,” “Manic Monday” and “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now.”

“The Music Man” (Dec. 8-27): Meredith Willson’s six-time Tony Award-winning musical follows traveling salesman Harold Hill and his attempt to swindle the small town of River City, Iowa. Hugh Jackman starred in a 2022 Broadway revival that broke records and ran for nearly a year.

“Oh, Mary!” (Jan. 6-17): Best known for his roles in cult streaming hits like “Difficult People,” “Search Party” and “At Home with Amy Sedaris,” actor Cole Escola wrote this spoof about the lives of Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln. It portrays the latter as an alcoholic stuck in an unhappy marriage with the deeply closeted president. It debuted off-Broadway in February 2024 for what was to be a six-week run. It was such a hit, it moved to Broadway that summer and has remained a fixture ever since. Escola, who won an acting Tony, originally portrayed Mary Todd Lincoln, a role that has since been played by a series of stars including Tituss Burgess, Jinkx Monsoon, Jane Krakowski and John Cameron Mitchell.

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“Legally Blonde” (Feb. 19-21): Based on Amanda Brown’s novel and the 2001 film, the show follows a sorority girl who enrolls at Harvard Law School to win back her ex-boyfriend Warner. Along the way, she ends up defending a woman in a murder trial. In a review of the original Broadway production, the New York Times called it a “high-energy, empty-calories and expensive-looking hymn to the glories of girlishness.”

“Waitress” (June 15-20, 2027): Jenna is a waitress and expert pie-maker who dreams of a way out of her small town and rocky marriage in this musical based on the 2007 film. An all-female creative team brought it to Broadway where it ran for nearly four years. It features original music and lyrics by Grammy Award winner Sara Bareilles (“Brave,” “Love Song”).

By JEFF MARTIN

Concern is rising that the first major storm outbreak in the run-up to spring could strike the nation’s heartland, putting millions of Americans from Texas to Iowa at risk of potentially strong tornadoes.

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Some scattered severe thunderstorms were expected to begin firing up late Thursday in the Texas Panhandle and across western Oklahoma and parts of Kansas, the National Weather Service said. Large hail, damaging winds and possibly a few tornadoes were also expected, according to the forecasters.

But the strongest storms were expected Friday in a zone that includes much of Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri and extends into some nearby states, according to weather service projections.

More than 6 million Americans are at the highest risk of severe weather Friday in an area that includes the metropolitan areas of Kansas City and Tulsa, Oklahoma, according to the national Storm Prediction Center. Another 22 million people are at a slightly lesser risk in a zone that includes Oklahoma City; St. Louis; Omaha, Nebraska; and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The weather pattern that’s bringing the potential for strong storms is also expected to usher in extremely warm temperatures for this time of year by the weekend.

“Temperatures will be 20-30 degrees above average, with 80s reaching as far north as parts of the Ohio Valley and Mid-Atlantic,” federal forecasters wrote in their long-range forecast discussion. “Daily records could become widespread.”

MIDDLETON, Wis. – Carter Meyer picked a good morning to have a great game. His Amery teammates were pretty good, as well.

Meyer stopped 34 shots to propel Amery to a 3-1 victory over top-seeded Waunakee on Thursday in the Division 2 semifinals of the Wisconsin boys state hockey tournament, sending the Warriors to the title game for the second consecutive season.

“Once we got settled in, I thought we played really well,” Amery coach Matt Humpel said. “You want to be playing your best games at the end of the year, and that was definitely our best game we played all year in all three zones. We’ve been struggling a little bit in certain situations, and today we nailed it.”

Fourth-seeded Amery (20-8) advances to Saturday’s title game at 11 a.m. against the winner of third-seeded Somerset/St. Croix Falls (17-10) and second-seeded Northland Pines (20-6).

Amery lost to Tomahawk 5-3 in last year’s state title game after beating Somerset/St. Croix Falls 4-3 in the semifinals.

Somerset/St. Croix Falls defeated Amery twice this regular season, 7-6 in overtime and 8-5. Amery also lost to Northland Pines, 4-2, early in the season.

Carter kept Waunakee off the board with 15 saves in the first period and 11 in the second. After Waunakee’s lone goal, he stopped two breakaways in third period and survived constant pressure over the final 2:52 after Waunakee pulled its goalie.

“I kept telling people that he’s going to steal us a game, he’s going to win us a game,” Humpal said of Carter. “And today, he did. It’s the biggest one yet. So, I’m really happy for him. We see that every day in practice.”

Waunakee dominated play early, but Meyer’s stinginess in net and a goal by Leo Jenson gave the Warriors a 1-0 first period lead. Jensen snapped the scoreless tie with 1:45 left in the period with a sharp angle shot from the bottom of the left circle.

Amery extended the lead to 2-0 midway through the second period when Oscar Troff got a stick on Gavin Lindsay’s shot from the right side and re-directed it into the net.

Waunakee got on the board just 38 seconds into the third period when Andrew Mussallem gathered in a pass directly in front of the goal and tapped it into the upper left part of the net.

Just 17 seconds later, Amery’s Evan Schultz was assessed a two-minute penalty for tripping, but the Warriors killed the penalty and halted Waunakee’s newfound momentum.

Meyer then turned away a pair of breakaways by Waunakee’s Sam Cutrano.

“I know I played well, so I’ve got that,” Meyer said. “Once you get in the groove, the breakaways are not that tough.”

Jacob Maxen restored Amery’s two-goal advantage with a shot from the left side with 10:34 remaining.

“Hockey coaches are supposed to try to stay calm and I got pretty excited when we scored the third goal,” Humpal said. “You never know, but I didn’t feel like Carter was giving up four goals today.”

Waunakee outshot Amery 35-22 and was not called for a single penalty, while the Warriors were whistled four times. Waunakee goalie Weston Meyer had 19 saves.

“I’ll have to go back and look at the film, but just the general feeling that we out-chanced them,” Waunakee coach Chase Drake said. “I don’t think it was the lack of chances. Their goaltender played extremely well.”

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By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Florida handyman who was sentenced on Thursday to life in prison for molesting two children had been convicted of storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, but was pardoned by President Donald Trump.

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Andrew Paul Johnson, 45, is among several Jan. 6 defendants who have been charged with new crimes since Trump’s sweeping act of clemency for Capitol rioters. On his first day back in the White House last year, Trump pardoned, commuted prison sentences or ordered the dismissal of cases for all 1,500-plus people charged in the attack.

Johnson was convicted last month of two counts of lewd or lascivious molestation of a child and one count of electronically transmitting material harmful to a minor, according to prosecutors in Hernando County, Florida. County Circuit Judge Judge Stephen Toner handed down Johnson’s life sentence.

Sheriff’s deputies began investigating the child molestation allegations against Johnson in July 2025. One of his victims told investigators that the abuse started around April 2024, several months before Johnson was sentenced for his Capitol riot conviction.

Johnson told one of his victims that he expected to be compensated for being a pardoned Jan. 6 defendant and would be putting the child in his will to inherit any leftover money, according a sheriff’s office report.

“This tactic was believed to be used to keep (the child) from exposing what Andrew had done,” the report said.

Investigators found sexually explicit messages that Johnson exchanged with one of his victims on the Discord messaging app, according to Fifth Judicial Circuit State Attorney Bill Gladson’s office.

“In the messages, Johnson attempted to have the victim download another application for a more private conversation and encouraged the victim to delete their messages afterwards,” Gladson’s office said in a news release.

Chief U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg in Washington sentenced Johnson in August 2024 to one year behind bars after he pleaded guilty to four misdemeanor charges stemming from the riot. Johnson had asked to withdraw his guilty plea, claiming that he was pressured into it, but the judge rejected his request before sentencing.

Johnson, of Seffner, Florida, was carrying a bullhorn as he marched to the Capitol after attending Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally near the White House. He entered the building through an office window that other rioters had smashed, according to federal prosecutors. Johnson cursed and yelled at police officers after they used tear gas to disperse the mob of Trump supporters, prosecutors said.