The Hills Are Alive With ‘The Sound of Rusic’ in New Clip From ‘Drag Race’ Rusical Episode: Watch

Start warming up your voice with a quick “Do-Re-Mi,” because this week’s epsiode of RuPaul’s Drag Race is bound to be one of your “Favorite Things” — a Rusical challenge!

In an exclusive first look shared with Billboard on Thursday (Feb. 15), the queens of season 16 are gearing up to perform in their very own parody show, The Sound of Rusic. Based around the 1959 Rogers & Hammerstein musical (and its iconic 1964 film adaptation starring Julie Andrews), the annual Rusical immediately begins stirring up tensions between the queens in the new clip.

Tasked by RuPaul to cast themselves in the production, Plasma and Morphine Love Dion both reveal to the audience that they intend to play the lead role of Mariah. “It’s, like, the reason the show has a heartbeat,” Plasma says in her confessional. Morphine quickly jumps in to add that she’s not giving up the part without a fight: “I’m just tired of being safe, so I know from the get-go, ‘B–ch, I need a leading role.'”

But before we get to see their inevitable confrontation over the lead role, two other queens — Q and Megami — begin squabbling over the part of the “Baroness Braun,” described by Xunami Muse as the show’s villain. As both queens refuse to back down from their first choice, Plane Jane finally breaks the tension by calling for a high-stakes game of rock, paper, scissors for the role. In one round, Q covers Megami’s rock with her paper, earning the nefarious part for herself.

Speaking to Billboard last year, Drag Race executive producer Tom Campbell said that the beloved challenge format was originally intended to be “a one and done challenge” for the queens of season 6, before the producers recognized how fruitful an annual Rusical could be. “This challenge, and Drag Race itself, is like a healthy tree that grew through a crack in the sidewalk — it doesn’t make sense, it doesn’t fit the algorithm, but it touches people’s hearts and and that’s what’s important.”

Episode seven of RuPaul’s Drag Race season 16 premieres Friday, Feb. 16 at 8 p.m. ET on MTV. Watch the exclusive teaser clip above.