Speaking of songs from CHESS, this was from a poster on ATC named "Delvino" -
"It's an issue in the show's early 1980s DNA: both female characters are long-suffering "women behind the men," without any real agency in the story beyond standing by/not standing by the globe-trotting, difficult-but-successful men. It's not glib to report that they don't pass the Bechdel test, a set of traits that define women's behavior in dramatic storytelling: Florence and Svetlana only reveal their goals/regrets through contemplative or contentious numbers about their connection to Freddie and Anatoly. To my thinking, the only 2025 fix on this show would be to give Florence an elevation in the Chess world (see The Queen's Gambit, which blows holes through the Chess conceit that it's a male sport).
In 2025, I'd like to hear Florence sing about what Florence wants, what Florence gets besides one of these two guys. By the time we reach "I Know Him So Well," we're in deep codependency mode. It's act two of that other Michele revival, by the way: everything is about Fanny losing Nick. In a show about a sport and an intellectual arena, its not thrilling to see two women so subsumed solely by romantic relationships."