Lucky for me I was able to see him before the hype (i.e., the first preview) and thought his Tony was well-deserved (in fact, I posted that he would win it on BWW that night). His performance of Friend Like Me truly "stopped the show" in a way I have rarely seen before.
"You can't overrate Bernadette Peters. She is such a genius. There's a moment in "Too Many Mornings" and Bernadette doing 'I wore green the last time' - It's a voice that is just already given up - it is so sorrowful. Tragic. You can see from that moment the show is going to be headed into such dark territory and it hinges on this tiny throwaway moment of the voice." - Ben Brantley (2022)
"Bernadette's whole, stunning performance [as Rose in Gypsy] galvanized the actors capable of letting loose with her. Bernadette's Rose did take its rightful place, but too late, and unseen by too many who should have seen it" Arthur Laurents (2009)
"Sondheim's own favorite star performances? [Bernadette] Peters in ''Sunday in the Park,'' Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''obviously, Ethel was thrilling in 'Gypsy.'' Nytimes, 2000
"If you didn't like it, though, why create a negative thread about him? Can't you just not like it and just go on with your life? There are many things I don't like, but I can't give you links to all of the threads I then started about them... "
Perhaps because there's nothing wrong with having an unfavorable review of something, especially when one expresses it as measuredly as Gomez3 has. I see responses like the above on bww all the time as if there's something inherently objectionable about objectivity and dissent when discussing theater. Don't get it. It's as if people are threatened by "negativity" even when it's presented not as an ad hominem attack but as an honest assessment.
I don't understand how starting rave threads can be good and starting critical threads bad.
Saw a naughty version of the show and I am scratching my head why the show was nominated for Best Musical over Bridges or other shows. It is an extended theme park show.
Having said that, Monroe is the best part of it and he keeps you watching when he is on. He also has the best number in the show. He richly deserved the Tony.
Calling someone's worked forced and cheesy communicates something specific and apparently genuinely perceived about the performance. For that reason it is not ad hominem, i.e., something reductively abasing that appeals merely to emotion without regard to logic or reason. Which is not to say that it's irrebuttable or objective. Those are very different things. By your definition, Joey, half of everything Pauline Kael ever said about acting performances would be in the nature of an ad hominem.