Middle-aged men do weird things. Some buckle their belts too tight and others cheat on their wives. Many channel their repressed emotions into lusting after Scarlett Johansson.

Less shocking and humorous is how a group of middle-aged men wearing women’s clothes recreated The Sound of Music for stage. This drag show wasn’t unfunny, just more wacky funny than ha-ha funny.

I’ve seen The Sound of Music, and its awesomeness casts a shadow over my impressions of this production.

I don’t know much about drag. Before the show, I’d never seen a man mime singing, or mime gouging another man’s butt-hole.

I found the performers playing up their gender-confused appearance made the energy and momentum ‘drag’. I’m not sure if this gender bending is meant to challenge, but it bores.

When the performers forgot about the pink elephant between their legs, so did the audience, and the show became something special.

Miss Jessica James’s subtle portrayal ofÔøΩÔøΩMaria made this musical more than a freak show. She’s the only character who’s recognisably human, alienated from a crowd of deformed and menacing creatures.

At the nunnery where she starts out, MariaÔøΩÔøΩis scolded by heartless nuns who look something like the Gatekeeper from the video game Nightmare. As she tries to fit into the von Trapp family, Maria is sexually molested by the children and farted at by the Captain.

It’s a definite spectacle. I can’t say I understood it. I liked the shiny costumes and the dance routines. They were pretty.