"The Sound of Rusic" is the seventh episode of the sixteenth season of the American television series RuPaul's Drag Race. It originally aired on February 16, 2024. The episode's main challenge tasks the contestants with performing in a "Rusical" (musical theatre production) parody of The Sound of Music, directed by Adam Shankman. American actress Melissa McCarthy also makes a guest appearance. Plasma wins the main challenge. Megami is eliminated from the competition after placing in the bottom and losing a lip-sync contest against Mhi'ya Iman Le'Paige to "Flowers" by Miley Cyrus.
The contestants return to the Werk Room after Geneva Karr's elimination on the previous episode. On a new day, RuPaul greets the group and reveals the main challenge, which tasks the contestants with performing in a "Rusical" parody of The Sound of Music, directed by Adam Shankman. The contestants listen to a recording of the musical and decide on which roles to play. Plasma fights for the lead role. Following is the Rusical's cast:
The contestants begin to rehearse in the Werk Room, then continue with Shankman on the main stage. Melissa McCarthy also makes a guest appearance as Shankman's "assistant". On elimination day, the contestants make final preparations in the Werk Room for the musical and fashion show. Plane Jane talks about her experience as a ballroom dancer. Megami talks about the impact of seeing the character Edna in Hairspray performed by a drag artist on Broadway.
On the main stage, RuPaul welcomes fellow judges Michelle Visage and Ross Mathews, as well as guest judge Shankman. The contestants perform the musical. RuPaul reveals the runway category ("I Can Buy Myself Flowers"), then the fashion show commences. After the contestants present their looks, the judges deliver their critiques, deliberate, then share the results with the group. Plasma is declared the winner of the main challenge. Megami and Mhi'ya Iman Le'Paige place in the bottom and face off in a lip-sync contest to "Flowers" (2023) by Miley Cyrus. Mhi'ya Iman Le'Paige wins the lip-sync and Megami is eliminated from the competition. She returns to the Werk Room to leave a mirror message for the remaining contestants.
The episode originally aired on February 16, 2024.
In the Rusical. the part with Plane Jane, Q, and Xunami Muse musically references "Break Up (Bye Bye)", a 2019 song by the Frock Destroyers from the British adaptation RuPaul's Drag Race UK.
In the corresponding episode of ', Megami shares with Q how she feels about her choreography.
In the Werk Room, RuPaul wears a purple suit, a purple dress shirt with white polka dots, and a large flower accent. For the main stage, RuPaul wears a dress with multiple colors, including a light blue bottom, a black-and-white striped middle, and a pink top, as well as black gloves and a red wig.
In the Rusical, the first girl group (Morphine Love Dion, Mhi'ya Iman Le'Paige, and Sapphira Cristál) dress as nuns. The second group (Dawn, Megami, and Nymphia Wind) have matching outfits and wigs with different colors and styles. Nymphia Wind carries a gold conifer cone. The third group (Plane Jane, Q, and Xunami Muse) wear matching yellow sequined gowns, gloves, silver jewelry, and blonde wigs. Q also wears a long white coat and matching gloves. Plasma has a short blonde wig. Pit Crew members wear lederhosen.
For the fashion show, Plasma wears a dress with yellow roses, a red wig, and a large hat. She carries an umbrella. Sapphira Cristál's outfit has large petals as wings. Morphine Love Dion presents a hippie-inspired look with a long blonde wig and a headpiece made of flowers. She pretends to consume LSD via a tab of blotter paper. Mhi'ya Iman Le'Paige has a red dress with a matching hat, gloves, and jewelry. Dawn wears a blue-and-red outfit, a blonde wig, and horns as a headpiece. Megami wears a short wedding dress covered in flowers. Nymphia Wind's outfit resembles a plant. She wears yellow high-heeled shoes. Q's pink outfit is inspired by a lotus mantis. Plane Jane's look is inspired by Rapunzel. She has a long braid. Xunani Muse's outfit inspired by an upside-down flower bouquet and has cellophane.
Vulture Jason P. Frank rated the episode four out of five stars. Matthew Huff of Parade described the Rusical as "somehow a mashup of The Sound of Music (obviously) and Pitch Perfect (weirdly)". Mikelle Street of Gay Times said the Rusical "shows off Plasma deeply in her element as the lead". Barry Levitt ranked The Sound of Rusic fourteenth in Vulture list of the show's Rusicals, writing "the songs are fun â the Von Snap number is especially catchy". Stephen Daw of Billboard said Mhi'ya Iman Le'Paige "expertly evoked the singer's self-loving energy with a pitch-perfect performance" and called Megami's performane "earnest" and "sobering". He also ranked the "Flowers" performance thirteenth in the magazine's list of the season's lip-sync contests, in which he said, "Without a single stunt, Mhi'ya showed herself to be not just a killer lip sync artist, but a versatile one at that." Daw opined: