Time Out Melbourne Arts & Culture Awards 2024: People's Choice winners

The “Matilda for grown-ups” comparisons were true: this Australian premiere burrowed all the way down into the depths of despair and climbed triumphantly back out again, all within two snappy acts. A musical adaptation of a film about becoming a better person runs the risk of feeling twee. However, Tim Minchin’s zingingly clever lyrics and Danny Rubin’s gutsy book took the essence of the film and extracted considerably more depth and grit to give the musical its own more mature personality.

Read the full review here.

“Still thirsty?” asked Calista Nelmes’ Maureen, as she reached the milky peak of the drawn-out, cow-themed performance art piece she performed within Rent. The answer came swiftly in a not-so-quiet whisper from the stalls: “Yes please!”. Rent's entire cast was outstanding, but we must take a moment for Maureen, as portrayed by New Zealander Calista Nelmes, who hit it out of the park in her Australian music theatre debut role.

No matter how many productions of Death of a Salesman you’ve seen, its ending will always manage to pack an emotional punch. Neil Armfield’s iteration represents the third national revival in less than two years, but every production has unearthed new depths to the contemporary classic. With sterling performances and an inspired set, it breaks new ground by bringing attention to the collateral damage that follows in our salesman’s wake.

Read the full review here.

Exploring the destructive depths of mental illness on the stage is no easy task, but it's one Max McKenna executed with devastating skill. Their portrayal of Anna's never-defined yet ever-present psychological struggle was as heartwrenching as it was layered, from grandiose youthful vigour to desperate depression.

Connection at the Lume provided an opportunity to experience the sights and sounds of Australia’s First Nations artists like never before. From intricate dot paintings to watercolours and wood carvings, the immersive exhibition explored themes of Land, Water, Sky and Country. It spanned 3,000 square metres of gallery space and featured projections four storeys high from celebrated artists like Tommy Watson, Gabriella and Michelle Possum Nungurrayi, Clifford and Emily Kame Kngwarreye. And it was all set to a soaring score of First Nations music.

The world's most extensive and authentic exhibition about the famed (and doomed) Titanic sailed into Melbourne Museum in December 2023. Coming directly from a sold-out run in Paris, Titanic: The Artefact Exhibition transported visitors inside the famous ship more than a century after its demise via an intricate recreation of its hallowed grand staircase. It also featured more than 200 genuine artefacts retrieved from the site of the shipwreck in the depths of the Atlantic Ocean, many of them possessions of the passengers and crew onboard.