Alysha Umphress Responds to NY Times Journalist's Alleged Body Shaming
By: Julie Musbach Jul. 23, 2018
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Alysha Umphress is one of Broadway's most sparkling talents, currently starring in Smokey Joe's Cafe Off-Broadway. Despite Umphress's talents and a general positive reaction to the show, New York Times critic Laura Collins-Hughes made a comment in her review about the actress's weight, and the Twitter-verse is calling it out as body shaming. The review reads:
Ms. Umphress, by the way, is bigger than the other women onstage, and the costume designer, Alejo Vietti, doesn't seem to have known how to work with that, dressing her in an unnecessarily unflattering way. He does better with the skimpy, yet not overly revealing, pink fringe outfit Emma Degerstedt wears, and jiggles in, for the leering number "Teach Me How to Shimmy."
Umphress responded to this with the following tweet:
A thought. @collinshughes @nytimes @hellerNYT #bodypositivity pic.twitter.com/JGbDzboo05
- Alysha Umphress (@Cristalzheat) July 23, 2018
UPDATE: Collins-Hughes has now responded to the social media onslaught:
It is in no way shameful to be big, let alone bigger than the other women onstage. My remark about the costuming reflects on the designer. This is not the first time I've noticed a designer seemingly at a loss about how to dress a larger woman well.
- Laura Collins-Hughes (@collinshughes) July 23, 2018
My issue was with a particular costume. It was on a human body. I said nothing negative about anyone's body.
- Laura Collins-Hughes (@collinshughes) July 23, 2018
I did not critique or praise anyone's body. I said the shimmy costume worked better. It is not shameful to be big, and I didn't suggest that it is.
- Laura Collins-Hughes (@collinshughes) July 23, 2018
Many industry colleagues have responded in support of Umphress, condemning the carelessly worded review including Betty Gilpin and Caissie Levy.
The performance that @Cristalzheat gives in #SmokeyJoesCafe is a masterclass in being powerful and fearless. Women do not need help feeling the opposite. Especially not from other women. (P.S., Alysha Umphress is one of the great performers of our time. See this show.) https://t.co/nX1xPjYlXb
- Betty Gilpin (@bettygilpin) July 23, 2018
Actors are so often the doormats for production's shortcomings. It makes me crazy. Critique the work, not the person. Also, I'd bet good money that comments like this would not have been made about a male actor. https://t.co/i8x3HcqMOK
- Caissie Levy (@CaissieLevy) July 23, 2018
.@collinshughes how you managed in your mind to find it ok to go from praising her talent to body shaming @Cristalzheat is beyond baffling. You want to critique the costume design, go for it. Why was it necessary to point out she's bigger than the other women on stage?!? https://t.co/E6LAUhRP5a
- Mark Mackillop (@mark_mackillop) July 23, 2018
I'd love it if we stopped discussing women's bodies & looks in reviews. But especially if it is a) disparaging & b) not relevant to the plot. @Cristalzheat is utterly in the right here. https://t.co/PKOqkJyqDb
- Zoe Kazan (@zoeinthecities) July 23, 2018
Stay ferosh, Alysha, and thank you for the music.
Photo Credit: Jennifer Broski
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