Chicago (the Musical) question: All that Jazz

In the musical Chicago, the song All That Jazz is performed by the character Velma Kelly. She appears to be extolling the pleasures of the depraved lifestyle of the Roaring Twenties speakeasies, such as dancing shimmy-shake to jazz music, putting rouge on her knees (?), and drinking gin.

One of the lines strikes me as not really very tempting: I’ve got some aspirin from United Drug.

Maybe she’s reassuring her listeners that they don’t need to worry about feeling under the weather tomorrow (because she has a preventative against that), but that strikes me as requiring me to read more into it than is strictly practical.

Is there some other meaning?

Rouge on the knees was typical flapper get-up, along with flattened bosoms (so flat the long necklaces they wore wouldn’t be caught by anything as icky as breast-bumps). The rouge may have been suggestive of a woman being on her knees, for… one reason or another. :wink:

Actually I’m pretty sure you’re right about the meaning of the “I bought some Aspirin down at United Drug” line. It was just Velma’s way of saying “we can drink and party all night long; bring on the hangover, I’m ready for it.” Plus it was a way for lyricist Fred Ebb to name-check a 1920s-era chain store, so it offered some “setting” cred.

At one time, people thought that combining aspirin and Coke made you high.
Or that the combo was an aphrodisiac. Don’t know if people believed that during the time period of Chicago, but those are urban legends Velma would believe and celebrate in song.

Now I understand why it bombed with “A Chorus Line” beside it.

It bombed?

Chicago was nominated for 13 and won six Academy Awards in 2003, including Best Picture. The film was critically lauded, and was the first musical to win Best Picture since Oliver! in 1969.

You might not have liked it, but facts is facts.

The 1975 musical on which the movie is based did not do well, particularly compared to the A Chorus Line:

I dont’ know if that qualifies as a “bomb” (and it was nominated for 10 Tonies) but it was not a huge hit, relatively speaking.

Okay. The 1996 revival did extremely well, winning six Tonys and holding the record for longest running Broadway revival (and, with Beauty and the Beast, the unofficial record for most stunt casting).

You’re telling me! I saw it on Broadway in 2006 or so because Billy Flynn was played by Joey Lawrence. “Whoa!”