Seann Miley Moore has taken home the Critics' Choice Award for Best Performance in a Musical (2024) for their performance in Miss Saigon in Time Out Sydney’s inaugural Arts & Culture Awards.
Opera Australia joined forces with major producer Cameron Mackintosh to bring a contemporary staging of this complicated classic to the Sydney Opera House in August 2023, and it went on to tour nationally and internationally (currently, Miley Moore is reprising the role in Singapore).
The exceptional cast is key to the success of this production, with the casting team engaging more than 40 performers from across the Asia-Pacific. Miley Moore took on the notorious role of The Engineer, the hustling French-Vietnamese brothel owner who is only out for himself. The beloved Filipino-Australian singer stole the show by bringing an injection of queer, camp excellence to the role – leaning 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.
In our reviewer’s words: "This expression of queerness increases 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, really fabulous.)
Miley Moore describes themself as "the embodiment of queer Asian excellence" and is a popular face in Sydney's queer community and has performed at LGBTQ+ pride events all over the world, including right here at Sydney WorldPride in 2023. You might have previously spotted Seann pushing the boundaries of heteronormativity on X-Factor UK (2015), The Voice Australia (2021), or simply turning heads with his top-notch fashion choices on a dance floor near you.
To view all the nominees for Best Performance in a Musical in the 2024 Time Out Sydney Arts & Culture Awards, head over here.
To read our critic’s full review of this production of Miss Saigon, click here.