Personally I saw it as a slam of Kristin Chenoweth.
Now if s/he had said that KC was "magnificent," as she always is, so we expect that kind of performance of her, I'd be more willing to accept this Tony voter's opinion.
S/he didn't say that though. S/he said it wasn't a good performance, and it was a typical KC performance. So does that mean this voter thinks all of KC's performances aren't good?
Most of the reviews of KC on here (and elsewhere) have been good to raves. Even those who preferred KO admit as much.
I have noticed a few who have said that it's Kristin playing Kristin (which comes close to concurring with certain elements of this Tony voter's review, especially where s/he says "we've seen it all before").
I'm not sure I see it that way though. Does Kristin act like Lily Garland out and about town?
And I haven't seen many Lily Garland-like characters in Kristin's past. Actually I've seen her play other roles which required something different than what the role of Lily Garland does.
Based on his/her tone, I get the impression the voter just doesn't like KC, so whatever she does won't be good enough.
But again, therein lies the question behind awards shows. Some will like certain things; others won't. Some will have certain feelings (even biases) for/against certain performers; others will be able to put that aside and evaluate the performance for its merits alone. So who knows?
The opinions of voters will never hit the mark for all of us 100%.
At the end of the day, KO is a great performer, so if she gets the Tony, awesome.
But to say KC isn't good in her role....well, that opinion seems to be in the strong minority from what I've read on these boards..... and everywhere else. And it leaves me questioning the rest of his/her opinions. Are they based on merit, or bias?
Again though, we'll never know. Because we all have our biases, as well. It's best when we can put our biases aside, especially when we're in a position of "voting" for something. But that isn't always going to be reality.