Two months ago, Minneapolis’ Orpheum Theatre hosted a touring production of the longest-running show in Broadway history, “The Phantom of the Opera,” and it proved an eye-opening surprise. The theatrical warhorse had new life breathed into it by a London staging that leaned upon the 1986 original for inspiration, and the opening-night performance I attended was brilliantly executed, full of passion and energy.

Now, the second-longest-running show in Broadway history has set down stakes at the Orpheum, but, alas, this version of “Chicago” feels far from fresh. Employing the same basic set, direction and choreography as the 1996 revival that’s been running ever since, it’s a remarkably ponderous and perfunctory production that lacks spunk, spirit or sexiness. Despite some fine channeling of the 1920s musical aesthetic from the onstage 10-piece band, it’s a staging that trudges where it would better bounce.

The cast of the North American touring production of “Chicago,” John Kander and Fred Ebb’s musical about women murderers of the 1920s and the way that the press covered their cases. The show runs through Feb. 1, 2026, at the Orpheum Theater in Minneapolis. (Courtesy of Jeremy Daniel)

“Chicago” is rooted in a 1920s play inspired by a couple of murder trials its author covered as a reporter. Five decades on, the composer/librettist team of John Kander and Fred Ebb joined with writer-director-choreographer Bob Fosse to create a “vaudeville” from its story, employing several styles from the early days of jazz to tell the tale of two murderers, Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly. Although both are guilty of their crimes, they and a crafty attorney seek to spin juries and the press in their favor while reveling in their newfound celebrity.

A show like “Chicago” doesn’t survive for a half-century without accruing a devoted fan base, and there seemed to be several enthusiasts in attendance at the Orpheum Tuesday night, judging from the lusty howls of appreciation that greeted such songs as “All That Jazz,” “Cell Block Tango” and “When You’re Good to Mama.” But they did little to jump-start this touring company’s engine on this chilly January night. With rare exceptions, all the tempos seemed way too slow and the onstage energy barely palpable.

Exceptions finally arrived with the emergence of Max Cervantes as slick and cagey defense lawyer Billy Flynn. Exuding a level of charisma yet to be reached by either of the musical’s lead characters, his “All I Care About” proved a fun little Busby Berkeley knockoff that led to a smile-inducing take on the march-like “A Little Bit of Good” from easily manipulated reporter Mary Sunshine, lent lively sparkle by J. Clanton. When the peppy Charleston, “We Both Reached for the Gun,” followed, it seemed that this show was at last kicking into gear.

But no. One potential showstopper after another fell flat, every song undersold and suffering from a paucity of punch. Despite some strong dancing, the cast came off as simply tired of the material, the most egregious of missed opportunities being a version of one of the show’s signature songs — Flynn’s courtroom tutorial, “Razzle Dazzle” — being delivered at a sleepy, ballad-like pace, leeching all the fun from a number that could stand as something of a distillation of the musical’s cynical spirit.

After a slow start, Ellie Roddy proved increasingly engaging as Roxie Hart, but “Chicago” has always been a musical with a problematic anticlimax, and her best efforts couldn’t overcome that. Yet this low-wattage production fizzles out more disappointingly than most.

‘Chicago’

When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Friday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday

Where: Orpheum Theatre, 910 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis

Tickets: $328-$40, available at hennepinarts.org

Capsule: A staging that makes “Chicago” seem old, slow and tired.

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“The ASAP Act can deliver two things New Yorkers urgently need: lower bills for households and more clean electrons on an increasingly strained power grid.”

Solar power panels at the Sherman Terrace co-op in the South Bronx. The panels were installed in 2020.

As the federal administration continues to brazenly pull the country into yet another shortsighted bid for oil dominance that enriches only the fossil fuel industry, the stakes are obvious: American energy independence and affordability are being sacrificed.

We can keep tethering ourselves to volatile geopolitics, to fossil fuel prices we’ll never control, and to an energy system built on instability and extraction—or we can choose the alternative that’s right in front of us: harnessing the sun here at home on our own rooftops. By rapidly accelerating local solar in New York, we can build power right here in our communities, beyond the reach of coups, cartels, and commodity shocks.

This legislative session offers New York a chance to do just that: pass the Accelerate Solar for Affordable Power Act (ASAP Act), S6570 and A8758. The ASAP Act would double New York’s rooftop and community solar goal, and cut red tape to lower the costs of getting community solar connected to the grid. In short, the ASAP Act can deliver two things New Yorkers urgently need: lower bills for households and more clean electrons on an increasingly strained power grid.

Why waste time and taxpayer dollars on chasing foreign oil or greenlighting new and expensive gas pipelines—like the recently approved NESE (Northeast Supply Enhancement) pipeline project in New York City, which had previously been rejected three times for projected environmental harms—when we already have a thriving industry built around the cheapest, most abundant power source on Earth: the sun.

Distributed solar, meaning rooftop systems and smaller community-scale projects, is delivering real results. So much so that New York is already on track to meet the Climate Act target of 10 gigawatts of statewide distributed solar ahead of schedule. To date, we’ve already built 7.6 gigawatts, which is enough energy to power roughly 1.3 million homes. These projects have the power—literally and economically—to directly benefit people’s daily lives. They show up as lower electricity bills, cleaner air, more resilient local grids, good-paying clean energy jobs, and real investments in local communities.

Take, for example, the rooftop solar project recently completed by GreenSpark Energy at Rochester’s Foodlink Center, a nonprofit that tackles food insecurity across the region. This 679 kilowatt solar array cuts energy costs for the organization and frees up resources to serve more local families.

In New York City, Solar One is working with nonprofit and industry partners – including Green City Force, Solar Uptown Now Services, PowerMarket and Accord Power– to build solar on 142 NYCHA buildings in Brooklyn and Queens. In addition to producing seven megawatts of community solar that will generate bill discounts for thousands of low- and moderate-income neighbors, project partners are training NYCHA residents in solar installation, and providing STEM internships to high school students, pairing installations with resident engagement and workforce development. These projects grow local renewable energy for low-income New Yorkers while advancing energy justice where it matters most: in people’s homes and communities.

These projects also bring clean energy jobs to our state. NYSERDA’s recent Clean Energy Industry Report shows that New York’s solar and storage industry currently supports 18,688 jobs. The ASAP Act would create another 15,000 jobs, adding to a growing ecosystem of good-paying clean energy jobs across the state.

But political headwinds are making it harder to get more projects like these online. The federal government recently gutted our country’s longstanding clean energy program (the Investment Tax Credit), increasing costs of projects by at least 30 percent. While at the state level, expensive, outdated, and time-intensive processes to connect new projects to the grid are forcing companies to take their business, jobs, and investment elsewhere.

The ASAP Act will change that: it doubles the state goal, creating a mandate for state agencies and the Public Service Commission to invest in local renewables, and enacts common-sense “interconnection” reforms to lower grid connection costs and maximize existing infrastructure while reducing costly upgrades.

A recent study spells out the benefits in no uncertain terms. Scaling up distributed solar and storage to the levels envisioned in the ASAP Act would save New Yorkers roughly $1 billion a year in energy costs. That translates to real money: about $87 a year for the average upstate ratepayer and $46 a year downstate—and the savings reach everyone, whether they directly participate in solar or not.

As the affordability and climate crises collide, we have no time to lose. New York lawmakers have the chance this year to unlock gigawatts of local clean energy and deliver real bill relief by passing a law that adds nothing to our state budget. With the ASAP Act, we can choose a healthier, more resilient, more affordable future that puts clean energy—not volatile fossil fuels—in the hands, and on the rooftops, of New Yorkers.

Kate Selden works at Solar One, an environmental nonprofit whose mission is to design and deliver innovative education, workforce training, and technical assistance that fosters sustainability and resiliency in diverse urban environments.  

The post Opinion: For Affordable Clean Energy at Home, New York Needs Solar ASAP appeared first on City Limits.

A sculpture designed by Team USA for the World Snow Sculpting Championship in downtown Stillwater has been removed by officials citing changes made by the sculptors in response to recent federal immigrant enforcement.

The original design, as submitted to competition officials, featured a sphere of outstretched hands. It was called “A Call to Arms.”

But the team of sculptors, which includes St. Paul artist Dusty Thune and teammates Dan Belcher and Josh Jakubowski, decided during the festival in Lowell Park to add peace signs and hand gestures using American Sign Language. Among the messages spelled out in ASL: “ICE out,” “love,” “unity” and “resist.”

“Unfortunately, Team USA did not comply with the rules of the competition,” Robin Anthony-Evenson, president of the Greater Stillwater Chamber of Commerce & Foundation, said Wednesday, adding that event organizers had received “several phone calls and complaints” about the sculpture.

The World Snow Sculpting Championship rules state that “teams must adhere to their original submitted sketch” and “sculptures must respect cultural and social values, avoid offensive, controversial, political, or inappropriate themes,” Anthony-Evenson said.

The hand gestures used in the sculpture “did not align with these pre-established rules and policy,” she said.

‘Events have a hand’

Thune, a veteran snow sculptor and the team’s captain, said his team, called House of Thune, “hadn’t necessarily planned on inserting any messages into the sculpture, other than hand signs for peace, love, unity and resistance, which would have been continued into the snow on the ground behind the sphere as if it were rolling toward the St. Croix River and leaving messages in its wake.”

Thune said the decision to alter the design of “A Call to Arms” came on Jan. 14, the first day of the competition. Renee Macklin Good, 37, was shot and killed by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis on Jan. 7.

“Upon digging into the snow block, we found the snow pack to be so poorly packed and full of debris that the outstretched arms we were carving kept crumbling and falling off,” he said. “We made the choice to focus on bigger hands and shorter arms to try and salvage our piece. Sometimes the medium (snow) decides the way a piece is going to be created. Sometimes external events also have a hand in shaping what a piece will become.”

After learning of the changes, event organizers modified the sculpture on Jan. 19 by removing some of the hand signs, Anthony-Evenson said.

On Monday, the entire sculpture was removed from Lowell Park, she said.

“In hindsight, we should have taken it down right away, but we were trying to be nice and manage the situation without having to do that,” Anthony-Evenson said. “We learned there were more hidden messages in the sculpture than first thought. That is why we decided to take the whole thing down. This event is about bringing people together, not dividing them.”

Anthony-Evenson, who knows ASL, said the hands spelled out “ICE out” by using the sign for “ice” and the “resistance fist.”

“It was very creatively done, and it was not very easy to read,” she said. “You had to look at it very carefully to notice it, but clearly it was noticed. We appreciated the positive messaging that we did see like ‘love’ and ‘peace,’ but at the end of the day, the sculpture was modified from the submitted design. The submitted design had open fingers.”

Was not a winner

The 16 sculptures created by teams from 16 different countries remained in Lowell Park open to the public after the competition, so organizers decided to remove “A Call to Arms,” Anthony-Evenson said. The removal was “procedural in nature, unrelated to judging outcomes, and did not involve penalties or sanctions against the artists,” she said.

Team USA did not place in the competition, which was won by a team from Canada, she added.

Team Fjordwitches of Quebec, Canada, pose with their winning entry, “The Inosculation of Souls.” (Courtesy of Peachiie Marketing)

“The whole point of the World Snow Celebration is to unify the world and bring the world to Stillwater and have a family event without any controversy one way or the other,” Anthony-Evenson said. “That’s really what we are trying to do.”

The Greater Stillwater Chamber of Commerce & Foundation “recognizes that conversations about artistic expression and free speech matter deeply to many people,” she said. “We respect the importance of open expression and creative exploration, while also carrying responsibility for maintaining a public event that is welcoming and appropriate for the broad community it serves.”

The organization that sponsored Team USA’s sculpture was Bayport American Legion Hesley Jensen Post 491 in Bayport. The Pioneer Press reached out to the post for comment Wednesday afternoon.

‘Unnecessary and divisive’

In a letter to Thune dated Jan. 20, Anthony-Evenson, Stillwater Mayor Ted Kozlowski and World Snow Celebration Co-Chair Sara Jespersen expressed their “deep disappointment” regarding the team’s actions.

“As you were made aware, the rules governing this international competition are explicit: political symbols, statements, or messaging of any kind are strictly prohibited,” they wrote. “Despite this clear policy, inappropriate content was incorporated into your sculpture. This was not an oversight. It was a conscious decision, and it was a selfish one.”

The letter went on to say Team USA’s actions negatively impacted event organizers, required financial resources to address and damaged the partnership with a nonprofit sponsor.

“At a time when unity and mutual respect are more important than ever, introducing this type of messaging into this forum was unnecessary and divisive,” the letter said.

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Thune, a special-education teacher for St. Paul Public Schools, has competed in four of the five World Snow Sculpting Championship competitions in Stillwater; House of Thune won the world title in 2023. Last year, Thune served as a celebrity judge for the competition and created the sponsorship walls and snow slide.

This year, Thune asked students and staff at the high school where he works “to give me their messages to convey in the piece,” he said. “It had to include their voices or it wouldn’t be as meaningful. I believe we followed the spirit of our piece: to stand up and to speak out. We stand behind our work.

“It seems that ‘A Call to Arms’ did exactly what its description suggested: it opened an avenue for our voices to be heard, as well as for the voices of those that can no longer speak out to be remembered.”

‘Call to Arms’ sculpture description

From the World Snow Sculpting Championship website (worldsnowcelebration.com):

“In a world where division is growing, we all have an equal responsibility to do our part to stay united. A Call to Arms is a figurative expression urging people to take action, often in response to a crisis or conflict. It is a rallying cry to engage in a particular cause. It is going to take each and every one of us to keep our democracy healthy and viable for future generations. Everyone needs to lend a ‘hand’ to keep our society moving forward.”

By DEREK GATOPOULOS and JENNIFER McDERMOTT

Win or lose, Jessie Diggins plans to celebrate her last Olympics.

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More than 40 friends and family are traveling to the Milan Cortina Winter Games to watch America’s most decorated cross-country skier chase Olympic glory one last time.

The 34-year-old Minnesota native is retiring at the end of the season, and looking forward to finally getting some rest.

“I’m really excited to have a whole weekend off,” Diggins told The Associated Press from the U.S. team’s training base in Livigno, Italy.

“I realize that sounds kind of crazy, but … I haven’t had two days in a row that are actually mine in a very long time. So that’s going to feel really special.”

Before that, she enters her fourth Olympics as the top challenger to the traditionally dominant Nordic skiers. With gold, silver, and bronze medals already to her name, Diggins is a strong favorite to add to her collection in Milan Cortina. Along the World Cup circuit this year, growing clusters of U.S. teammates have gathered to cheer her on, a presence that’s coincided with her retaining the lead in the overall women’s standings.

“It was so cool — just feeling so much love across different sports,” Diggins said after winning her third overall Tour de Ski title in northern Italy this month. “It’s been really awesome.”

She returned to the podium last weekend in Goms, Switzerland, at the final World Cup meet before the Olympics, where she finished second in the 20-kilometer classic, just 0.9 seconds behind Finland’s Johanna Matintalo.

Zip lines, swim races, summers in Canada

Growing up in Afton, outside Minneapolis, Diggins tried any sport that could absorb her uncontainable energy: skating, soccer, dance, gymnastics, rock climbing and athletics. Ski racing followed while she was still in elementary school.

Her father, an outdoorsy Canadian, installed a zip line behind their house, and speed quickly became a fascination. That competitive edge sharpened during summers north of the border, racing other kids in swim meets along the shores of Lake Superior.

Ski competitions began at 11 and never stopped. After outperforming the boys, Diggins jumped age categories, surging through her teens from state to national championships and onto an express path to the Olympics.

By 2018, she was at the center of a historic breakthrough, teaming with Kikkan Randall in the sprint to claim the first — and still only — U.S. Olympic gold in cross-country skiing.

After adding silver and bronze in 2022, Diggins will compete at Milan Cortina as part of a powerhouse group of American women that includes Alpine skiiers Mikaela Shiffrin, Lindsey Vonn and snowboarder Chloe Kim. A dual citizen, Diggins also openly roots for Canada.

“I absolutely do,” she told the AP. “I kind of see it as team North America. And I am really, really proud of my Canadian citizenship. So many of my family lives up there, and both my parents were born there. I feel so proud to have half of my heart there.”

Stressed by events in Minneapolis

Her career took off in Europe and eventually led her to settle outside Boston, but Minnesota is never far away. Diggins said it has been stressful to follow the headlines about the immigration crackdown in Minneapolis where two people were fatally shot by federal immigration agents.

“It’s been devastating following the news of what has been happening in Minnesota right now, and it’s really hard feeling like I can do nothing about it,” she wrote in an online post.

As her career has flourished, she has also devoted herself to causes that mirror personal struggles — advocating for climate action as snowfall declines because of climate change and pushing for better access to treatment for people with severe eating disorders.

“It makes every race so much more meaningful knowing that I’m trying to advocate for a better future,” she said.

After advocacy, it’s back to the slopes.

Glitter, gratitude and podium dancing

Fans know Jessie Diggins’ winning formula: relentless endurance, downhill aggression and a finishing kick capable of breaking elite rivals.

There’s also playfulness. She races with glitter face paint — a ritual now copied by younger American skiers — and after frequent finish-line collapses often celebrates moments later with a half-dance on the podium.

Along the way, Diggins makes a point of publicly thanking those who helped her get there: wax technicians, sports psychologists, teammates and others.

“I have to say a huge thank you to the team. I felt like I had awesome skis that were super competitive every single day,” she said after her latest Tour de Ski victory.

“It takes a village, and I’m really proud of my village — really grateful for them. It was so fun to feel good on this last tour. And yeah, it was just really cool.”

AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics