At the Cook County Jail women's annex, six women explain their presence in the jail, all of whom stand accused of killing their significant others. "He had it coming" is a refrain throughout the number,[1] as each think their crime was justified. Each murder suspect is identified with a particular word that punctuates the song: "Pop! Six! Squish! Uh-uh! Cicero! Lipschitz!"
On Broadway, the song was originally performed by Chita Rivera, with Candy Brown, Cheryl Clark aka Cheryl A Clark, Graciela Daniele, Michon Peacock and Pamela Sousa. In the 2002 film, this musical number is performed by Catherine Zeta-Jones (as Velma Kelly), Susan Misner (as Liz), Denise Faye (as Annie), Deidre Goodwin (as June), Ekaterina Chtchelkanova (as Katalin Helinszki nicknamed the Hunyak), and Mýa (as Mona).
Covers and external usage[edit]
The song has been covered, or otherwise used, in several shows or videos:
In the Glamorous episode "Are You On The List?", the song was lip-synced by 6 drags including Marco Mejia (portrayed by Miss Benny).
In the Glee episode "Choke", the song was covered by main characters Santana, Brittany, Mercedes, Sugar, and Tina.
Girls Generation's Hyoyeon popularized the song in South Korea after performing in the dance reality show "Hit the stage".
Child actors in the Broadway production of The Secret Garden performed the number as part of a 1992 AIDS benefit in New York City.[5]
Todrick Hall has parodied the song to make "Spell Block Tango" using Disney villains Captain Hook (as the master of ceremonies), Cruella De Vil, The Evil Queen, Ursula, Queen of Hearts, Scar (which he portrayed), and Maleficent. Hall also parodied the song as "Cell Black Django" using celebrities NeNe Leakes (as the master of ceremonies), Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, Solange Knowles, Beyoncé, internet meme "Sharkeisha" (which he portrayed), and Mariah Carey.
In the Gotham episode "Let Them Eat Pie," Professor Pyg does his rendition of the song called the "Meat Pie Tango" at Sofia Falcone's charity event at the Falcone Home and School for Orphans.
In the Crazy Ex-Girlfriend episode "I Want to Be Here," Rebecca Bunch attempts to lead a homage to the song in prison, but is unnerved by how depressing her fellow inmates stories are.[6]