Time Out Arts & Culture Awards 2024: Best Performance in a Musical Nominees

Local legend Elise McCann easily kept pace with Broadway legend Andy Karl, playing sensible television producer and Phil’s love interest Rita Hanson, straight off the back of a season in Mamma Mia! The Musical at the same theatre. McCann’s rendition of the ‘not your princess’ anthem ‘One Day’ rendered her Rita as a complex character who has more to give than being merely a target for Phil’s affections.

Courtney Monsma’s G(a)linda is slap-your-knees, let-out-a-squeal funny. She re-shapes the virtue-signalling mean girl role and makes Glinda that much easier to redeem with her masterful timing, quirkiness and propensity for revealing the good witch’s vulnerable side. From soaring operatic highs from within her perfect bubble to a delightfully unexpected grunt or two, Monsma is a delight.

*Wicked is showing at the Regent Theatre until July 28, 2024.

“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.

Des Flanagan impressed all the more during the return Melbourne season of Moulin Rouge! The Musical, having lived so long in the role of penniless and naïve would-be suitor Christian. He excelled vocally, illuminated the show with his kilowatt chemistry with Alinta Chidzey's Satine and nailed the 70-plus tunes stitched into this jam-packed jukebox musical all while skipping nimbly through the demanding choreography.

As the Engineer, Miss Saigon's impish id, Seann Miley Moore got to have all the fun; thankfully, with a performance bursting with brio and charisma, so did the audience. It’s a star-making role and Moore is certainly stellar. He’s Falstaffian in his wit and moral relativism, but also sleekly sexual, flagrantly queer and often frighteningly aggressive.