Nearly two years after his Disney+ show first debuted, Joshua Bassett cringes when thinking about his original audition for High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.
He recounted the romantic yet "cheesy" story to E! News' Erin Lim for The Rundown, and it turns out he has a lot more in common with his character, Ricky, than you might think.
"Funnily enough, when I auditioned for season one of this show, the original pilot actually had Ricky writing Nini a song to ask her to homecoming," he recalled. "And I was like, ‘Guys, two years ago, I technically did this, so.' And they made me play this song in the audition room."
Joshua, now 20, explains that the first song he ever wrote was to ask a girl to a dance. "I wrote this little song in, like, 20 minutes and went to her house with my friend," he shared during his catch-up with The Rundown, which airs Monday, May 10. "I sang it to her, because she had turned down two other guys... I was like, ‘If I'm gonna go for this girl, I gotta go big.'"
When the production team heard that Joshua had pulled the same stunt as Ricky, they apparently asked him to perform the serenade for them in person. And fortunately for you, we can reveal the original footage of his adorable audition video.
In the clip, a young Joshua can be heard giving the casting team a warning, saying, "I did write this, but I also have written more songs that aren't cheesy... So, don't judge my writing by this."
He launched into his tune, singing, "I like your face. Your big brown eyes and your warm embrace. And I have a question for you tonight. I hope you'll think it through and you will not decline. And on February fourth, maybe you'll be mine, if you say you'll go with me to formal tonight."
The artist, who has gone on to release his own songs outside of the TV show, ended the number by singing, "I'm aware that it's such short notice. I'm aware I'm not the first to do this… I'd like to know if you wanna go to formal with me. Ay!"
Naturally, he blessed Erin with a 2021 version of the vintage track, joking, "Oh geez, I hate this song!" But Erin seemed to love it, as she shouted, "Yes! I accept!" after he finished serenading her.
Joshua revealed that his high school date also accepted his proposal back in the day: "She did say yes, yeah."
Watch the video above, and download Snapchat to tune in to The Rundown on Monday for his full interview.
In the meantime, catch up on HSMTMTS by watching the season one marathon on the Disney Channel on Saturday, May 8. It will feature sneak peeks of the upcoming second season, which will premiere on Friday, May 14, on Disney+.