James says sorry for criticising New York production of Sondheim musical Into the Woods, following outcry from fellow performers

A Broadway actor has apologised for "trashing" a high-profile theatre production in New York via Twitter.

Morgan James, who was a cast-member in the recent Broadway revival of Godspell, attended the first preview performance of Into the Woods at the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park, New York. Following the performance she tweeted to her 2,500 followers, "HOW can you **** up Into the Woods?? I fear musicianship is dead in musical theatre. And acting, for that matter. #horrified" The tweet has since been deleted.

Her remarks, however, have drawn the ire of her fellow performers, including Broadway actor Matt Doyle. He replied to James's original tweet: "Really don't like seeing Broadway actors trashing other shows on Twitter. Have a little tact. We're all in this together."

Stephen Sondheim's musical plays as part of the Shakespeare in the Park season. The revival, which stars three-time Oscar-nominee Amy Adams and features a voiceover recorded by Glenn Close, is based on the 2010 Regent's Park Open Air theatre production, directed by Timothy Sheader.

Theatre practitioners often refrain from discussing one another's work negatively in public, partly because they could end up working together in the future. Nonetheless, having removed the original tweet, James went on to describe the production as "offensive (sexually)", before adding, "It just wasn't for me."

In a string of tweets, composer and lyricist Scott Alan responded: "people read your tweets & you need to be apart of this industry & be respectful & feel honored to be working in it … it disgusts me to see performers judging art. Theatre is already judged by so many. WE are the ones who need to SUPPORT." A discussion board on the subject received over 150 comments since James's original tweet.

On Wednesday, though, James took to Twitter to apologise: "I am really sorry for this firestorm. For my words, for responses, for the chaos. I am so sorry. I had NO idea this would turn into this. And I apologize to the cast, crew and creatives of the show and everyone at the Public."

Earlier this year, actor Tony Vincent, who had played Jesus in a London revival of Jesus Christ Superstar in 2000, lambasted the recent Broadway cast's performance at the Tony awards ceremony. Of Josh Young and the company's rendition of the show's title number, Vincent tweeted, "I can't believe I wasted 5 mins of my life watching such a crap version of JCS tonite. #TonyAwards #baffled#embarrassedforwebber"

• This article was amended on 30 July 2012 to correct the spelling of the name of composer and lyricist Scott Alan, from Allen.