Time Out Sydney Arts & Culture Awards 2024: Critics' Choice winners

It's the silly zombie horror musical we’d all been waiting for, and it didn't disappoint. This is a brand new Australian work from the big brains of Laura Murphy (The Lovers, The Dismissal) brought to gruesome life for its world premiere at Hayes Theatre Co (the beating heart of Australian musical theatre). Taking us back to the Sydney of the '90s in the final moments before a high-strung community theatre troupe opens their new show, Zombie! is veritably stuffed with meta-musical-theatre references, camp gory goodness, songs that mash showtunes with era-specific pop, triple-threat zombies, and a feminist throughline that will have you screaming for blood. 

Seann Miley Moore stole the show by bringing an injection of queer, camp excellence to Opera Australia's revival of this complicated classic musical. Reinventing the role of the hustling brothel owner known only as The Engineer, the The Voice alum leaned into a lascivious pansexuality, pushing the character beyond a misogynistic sleaze to a flamboyant masochist who craves the extravagant materialism only white privilege can bring. This expression of queerness increased the stakes for a character that has often been dismissed as a mere caricature, a projection of colonial views of Eastern barbarism. (And it was also just really fabulous.) 

Griffin Theatre Company took a big swing when deciding on a production to farewell their legendary home at the Stables in Kings Cross (it's currently closed down for a major renovation), and it paid off. A fitting send-off for the home of Aussie writing, The Lewis Trilogy is a loaded triple-bill (five hours of theatre in total!) spotlighting the work of legendary playwright Louis Nowra and his beloved adopted home city of Sydney. An epic experience that could be attempted over multiple evenings or an entire Sunday, this nostalgic and immense production is as much a love letter to Nowra's writing as it is to the spirit of Kings Cross, to Aussie theatre, and to community, wherever we may find it. 

Heartfelt and heart-wrenching with great comic timing, Janet Anderson's career-defining performance in the debut Australian production of Overflow – a hilarious and devastating exploration of women’s bathrooms and the experiences of transgender women – will not be forgotten any time soon. Seemingly effortlessly, Anderson held the attention of everyone in her orbit, seamlessly switching gears to impersonate Rosie’s associates and their various British dialects. Anderson played Rosie as funny and smart and hurt, a person just trying to survive and find joy. She doesn't look for trouble; it finds her. 

British playwright Travis Alabanza's critically acclaimed one-act play made a mark on the local theatrical landscape when an all-trans- and gender-diverse team brought it to the Sydney stage with Darlinghurst Theatre Co in 2022. So lucky for us, it came back for Sydney Festival and a national tour in 2024.

The Biennale of Sydney pulled out all the stops for its 50th anniversary edition in 2024. It took over six different locations around the city with stunning and provocative art by artists from all over the world, and while we wouldn't want to play favourites, the stand-out venue was absolutely White Bay Power Station. After being closed to the public for more than 100 years, the heritage-listed industrial site in Rozelle was relaunched as a hub for arts, culture and community with the Biennale. Exploring the space itself is just as exciting as the art – but the curators didn't hold back either.

A huge painting by artist Dylan Mooney overlooked the scene. With a high-impact art style awash in saturated colours, Mooney has drawn on his experiences as a Queer Indigenous man to pay tribute to Aboriginal dancer and activist Malcolm Cole in the iconic Captain Cook drag costume he wore in the 1988 Sydney Mardi Gras Parade, the year of Australia’s Bicentenary (look out for more references to this cultural moment throughout the Biennale – including in images from the legendary photographer William Yang). Other highlights include the head of a giant blue deity, people dressed as human-sized foxes making mischief in domestic debris, and many more weird and wonderful sights. 

With the intent of showcasing the diversity of the Powerhouse’s archives, eccentric critic and Australian personality Leo Schofield and his committee might have just curated the most stunning and all-encompassing exhibition Sydney has ever seen. Watched over by a giant glammed-up Kewpie doll, there’s something to intrigue everyone across the 22 spaces within 1001 Remarkable Objects – from film buffs to porcelain collectors, Georgian era enthusiasts, luxury fashionistas, car fanatics – and, well, we could be here all day. This free exhibition was a perfect send-off for the beloved Powerhouse Museum in Ultimo, which closed in February for three whole years of renovations.