- The film opens zooming in on an eyeball, and inside the eye, we briefly see the letter C framing the pupil in lights, before we see "Chicago" illuminated on a stage.
- 5, 6, 7, 8, here we go!
- It's the swinging '20s, and we're in the Onyx Club, the jazziest jazz joint in, well, Chicago, most likely.
- A man backstage is looking for the Kelly sisters.
- Outside, a woman gets out of a cab and walks through the alley to the back door of the joint.
- On the way inside, she tears the name "Veronica" off a Kelly Sisters poster, leaving only Velma.
- This is Velma, and she says she's going solo. What about Veronica? "She's not herself tonight."
- The man says "They paid to see a sister act!" Maybe he should call Whoopi Goldberg.
- Velma says she can do it alone.
- In her dressing room, she hides a gun in a drawer, washes blood from her hands all Lady Macbeth style, and slips into her slinkiest dress and fishnets.
- The bandleader introduces the Kelly Sisters… but only one appears on stage.
- She remains silent until her musical cue hits: "Come on, babe, why don't we paint the town."
- Velma turns a duet into a sizzling solo that's "All That Jazz" as a young blonde looks on.
- The young blonde, whose name is Roxie, imagines she's the one on stage, but her beau escorts her from the club before she can meet his "friend" who is an alleged manager.
- Roxie leads the man, Fred, up the stairs to her apartment.
- They rock her bed (including the photo of Roxie and her husband, who isn't Fred) as Velma rocks the stage… and a cop is watching her.