Time Out Sydney Arts & Culture Awards 2024: Best Musical Nominees

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. 

Sumptuous, engrossing, intelligent and properly immersive, the Australian debut of this electro-pop-opera is a stunning accomplishment of creative collaboration from Darlinghurst Theatre Company. Inspired by a scandalous slice of Tolstoy’s War and Peace, The Great Comet follows the exploits of wealthy socialites living a decadent life in early 19th-century Moscow while a distant war wages on. Reimagining the Broadway hit with a queer twist and gorgeous costuming by Newtown-based demi-couture label Nicol & Ford, this inventive production transformed the whole cathedral-esque Eternity Playhouse into an otherworldly atmosphere, where the cast of quadruple threats would weave through the audience and around the circular stage. 

Fuelled by a playlist of certified pop bangers, this musical romp billed as “the greatest love story ever remixed” made a much anticipated landing on the Sydney stage following hit seasons on Broadway and the West End. Brought to Australia by the Michael Cassel Group, & Juliet is a slick and contagiously joyful production that might just change your mind about jukebox musicals (and Shakespeare). It is the diverse Aussie cast that makes this production so special though – seasoned musical theatre superstars go toe-to-toe with talented newcomers, and you can feel the jubilation emanating from their performances. 

With a deliciously gloomy Steampunk-meets-Art-Deco aesthetic, powerful songs, transfixing choreography, and a robot woman puppet – Metropolis was a surprise stand-out of Sydney's musical theatre offerings in 2023. Inspired by the 1925 novel and the famous 1927 silent film of the same name, this dystopian tale is laced with eerily-relevant warnings about technology and industrialisation. Reaching moments of theatrical bliss, this musical developed by Little Eggs Collective and Hayes Theatre Co is so slick and so impactful that we wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t realise that is was a brand new Australian-made show. 

Funny, surprising and moving, this little indie show that could was quickly hailed as a must-see piece of new Australian writing. Filled with witty and heartbreaking original songs, Forgetting Tim Minchin is a fictional story that feels entirely true. Jules (played by show creator Jules Orcullo) is a failing millenial playwright who just moved back in with their mum. When they get the chance to work with their childhood hero, Tim Minchin, Jules learns some tough lessons about what it means to stay true to yourself and to your art.