Hossan Leong knocks Hamilton show cancellation due to illness: 'Contingencies must be put in place'

He took his shot.

Actor Hossan Leong has apologised for sounding like he "slighted" foreign shows after a social media post about the May 1 cancellation of the musical Hamilton due to "unexpected illness".

His post was not intended to criticise the production for cancelling the show, but to call out the fact that it made the news in The Straits Times and Channel NewsAsia while a local production of Little Shop of Horrors did not get the same publicity.

"With all due respect and I get it, BUT Sing’theatre’s Little Shop Of Horrors had two actors down. And yet they went on!" wrote Leong on May 2.

"And obviously that wasn’t newsworthy enough."

"Singapore. You need to take a look at yourself. You don’t support your own productions, instead you look at a multimillion dollar franchise and go 'OMG that’s amazing'.

"There’s space for every production – foreign or Singaporean. Marketing budgets are obviously different. So support is key."

But when someone responded to his post by asking, "So... people should keep working even though they are sick?", Leong replied, "Nope. They shouldn’t. But contingencies must be put in place."

He reiterated his point by adding on Threads: "I just think there’s space for every production but we need to give equal airtime for each one. Foreign or Singaporean. Coz not all marketing budgets are equal."

By then, the backlash had started, to which Leong responded: "Yeah nah. Twitter was toxic enough. So ain’t gonna spend any energy on negativos here. So troll away trolls."

He then highlighted an incident that should have been in the news but was not.

Leong posted on May 3: “'Singaporean actor comes back and saves the show, ONE day after father’s cremation, in order to save the company from a week of cancellations.' How’s that for a headline The Straits Times.

"Local theatre really goes above and beyond. Some love for our local industry, please."

The Singaporean actor he was referring to was Dwayne Lau, who was a cast member in the Little Shop Of Horrors when his father died on April 16.

The production ran from April 12 to 28 at the Drama Theatre in the School of the Arts Singapore.

On May 4, Leong posted a clarification of his original post about Hamilton.

He wrote: "I’m not at all pointing fingers at the productions or producers for making the necessary decisions. Like I said do what’s is best for your show. And I respect that.

"I apologise if it sounded like I slighted the foreign shows. Again. There is space for everyone.

"All I am saying and rallying for is support for shows with smaller budgets and less marketing clout."

Hamilton premiered in Singapore on April 19 and will play at the Sands Theatre in Marina Bay Sands until June 9.

Ticket prices range from $80 to $300.