Show Synopsis:
Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly, two vaudeville performers, are arrested for murder; Roxie has murdered her lover and claimed he was a burglar, and Velma has murdered her husband and sister for sleeping together. The woman's block of Cook County Jail is run by Matron "Mama" Morton, who helps out the prisoners for some kind of compensation, and she is currently running the publicity campaign for Velma's trial and return to vaudeville. Roxie takes Billy Flynn on as a lawyer, the same as Velma, and becomes the biggest story in Chicago, which displeases Velma. When a new murderess bursts onto the scene, Roxie fakes a pregnancy to keep herself in the headlines. Billy helps her win the trial with Velma's strategies, but just as she leaves the courtroom, the public begins to focus on a new murderess. Amos leaves her when she tells him that there's no baby, and she and the freed Velma team up for a new vaudeville act. 

Character:
Roxie Hart, a beautiful vaudeville chorus girl in her 20s; ruthlessly desperate to be loved by everyone; wants to be a star.

Song Context:
Amos is taking the blame for the murder, since he believes that the victim was a burglar and he does not want there to be a chance that his wife will go to jail. Roxie feigns love for him as he tells the police a story of what happened, but when they tell him the victim's name, he realizes that he and Roxie knew the man very well. Amos realizes that Roxie must have been having an affair and starts to tell the police the real story. Roxie begins to get angry and upset with him.	

Fun Facts:
1) This musical is based on the play Chicago by Maurine Dallas Watkins, a Chicago Tribune journalist who covered the 1924 trials of murderesses Beulah Annan and Belva Gaertner. The character of Roxie is based on Annan, who was found "not guilty" of the murder of a man who she says attempted to rape her. 
2) The leads were tailored for three Broadway stars of the day: Gwen Verdon as Roxie, Chita Rivera as Velma, and Jerry Orbach as Billy. They were all honored with Tony Award nominations for their performances. 
3) Charlotte D'Amboise, a musical theatre performer who has played Roxie in multiple productions over the course of her career, believes that interpretation of the role has a great deal of freedom with it. She told Playbill in an interview that "[w]ith Roxie, you can just be so many different levels and different colors. You can play scenes differently and it can still work[.]"