There are plenty of killings in the hit Broadway musical Chicago— from housewife/superstar wannabe Roxie Hart offing her lover to the slayings committed by the six slinky dames in stir at the Cook County Jail who sing merrily about their crimes in the darkly enticing “He Had It Coming”.

In fact, one of those vamps, song-and- dance diva Velma Kelly, is counting on a career boost from her upcoming trial— until Roxie takes over as the newest belle of the big house.

“It’s an uplifting ditty about murder,” said Jennifer Nettles, the long-running musical’s latest Roxie, who made her debut February 2nd.

Nettles, a country singer known as half of the Grammy Award-winning Sugarland as well as a solo artist, has long been a fan of Chicago’s brassy, sensational music and lyrics by the iconic team of John Kander and Fred Ebb (who wouldn’t be blown away by opening number, “All That Jazz”?). And she loves the aging chorine Roxie’s backstory.

“She has this dream of being in vaudeville and of being a dancer,” Nettles said. “She finds the opportunity passing her by and then her life changes, through the unfortunate choice of murdering her lover—and now the opportunity is there.”

Well, sort of. Roxie needs $5,000 to hire Billy Flynn (John Dossett), Chicago’s slickest and most theatrical lawyer (and come up with a steady array of ploys to keep his wavering attention). She also needs to learn how to hoodwink the press with stunts like playing a loose-limbed dummy to Billy’s manipulative ventrilo- quist, and, in the heady aftermath, deal with the intoxication of becoming the momentary media darling.

Admiring the headline, “ROXIE ROCKS CHICAGO,” she sings: “The name on everybody’s lips is gonna be Roxie/The lady rakin’ in the chips is gonna be Roxie/I’m gonna be a celebrity/ That means somebody everyone knows.”

As it happens, Chicago beckoned Georgia-born Nettles at a serendipitous period in her life. She had given birth to her son, Magnus, two years ago, and released a solo album, “That Girl” last year. Find- ing her 2015 schedule open, she accepted the offer to make her Broadway debut for two months beginning February 2nd, succeeding Charlotte D’Amboise who exits the role on the first. Notably, Nettles arrival coincides with the new Velma, Carly Hughes, who joins the show fresh from her star-stint as the Leading Player in Pippin. (Both actresses will remain with the show through March.)

A delightfully sleazy show, Chicago has characters as diverse as corrupt prison matron Mama Morton (NaTasha Yvette Williams); Amos Hart, Roxie’s sad-sack nonentity of a husband; and Mary Sunshine (R. Lowe), a disturbingly perky tabloid columnist. Being the 33rd Roxie since Chicago began its now legendary revival not only finds Nettles singing one show-stopping number after another, but dancing to the sinuous Bob Fosse-inspired chore- ography of Ann Reinking, the produc- tion’s original Roxie. [For the record, the show won six Tony Awards in 1997, including Best Musical Revival].

“I’ve had the experience of acting on a stage, yet dancing at this level is thrilling and fun,” noted Nettles. “It’s Fosse and the dancing tells the story. I’ve learned the subtlety of Fosse; how to hold your hands; how not to overdo things. It’s been such a discovery.”

From dance supervisor Gary Chryst and dance captain David Bushman, she’s learned “all these little nuances of Fosse’s dancing; Gary’s so capable at connecting the dots so all clicks with me, so I can say, ‘O.K., this step follows this and it makes sense.’

“It’s such an enriching experience—I get to meet and learn from wonderful legends within theater and dance that have all these stories,” she concluded.