Cell Block Tango — 1997 cast recording

Six women in the Cook County jail take turns explaining how their men died. Five of them tell the same joke with different props — “he had it coming” — and the audience laughs at each one.

The sixth is the Hunyak, who speaks Hungarian, and whose verse is the only one that does not end in a confession. She is the one the show later executes. The number is funny for five minutes so that the second act can cash the cheque.

This is audio from the 1997 Broadway revival cast recording, on the rights holders’ own channels. In the theatre the number is danced as well as sung, which the album necessarily leaves out.