Minor spoilers are ahead for the Season 2 premiere of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.
If Zac Efron’s “Bet On It” solo dance on a golf course in High School Musical 2 doesn’t live in your head rent free, did you even grow up in Disney Channel’s heyday? Nearly 15 years later, the iconic moment has been memed, gif-ed in every which way. And in Friday’s Season 2 premiere of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, Joshua Bassett did a major callback to the number.
After the first season took on the original High School Musical songs, it was only natural to expect the cast to move to the 2007 sequel. There are so many memorable numbers from the summer movie, between Sharpay’s “Fabulous,” the much discussed “I Don’t Dance” scene and Vanessa Hudgens’ dramatic “Gotta Go My Own Way” song. Although the episode ends with Miss Jenn changing plans to Beauty and the Beast so they can compete in a musical competition, the cast did get to dabble in High School Musical 2.
Joshua Bassett has a fun moment in the premiere where he goes for it and does the “Bet On It” song for Big Red in his room. It’s not on a green field, but he definitely recreates some of the big moves from the movie. When CinemaBlend spoke to Bassett, he talked to us about the secret to finding that “Bet On It” energy:
I watched the [Bet On It] video way too many times but it was fun, I literally sang that live while I was dancing because I wanted it to be as authentic as possible. I have a video on my phone of me running on my treadmill singing 'Bet On It' over and over and over again. I was like ‘I have to be able to sprint and sing this song’ so literally, for the weeks leading up to it I was practicing running on a treadmill, singing 'Bet On It'. It was pretty great channeling that Troy Bolton, High School Musical energy… we did like 30 takes by the way. I was pretty exhausted by the end.
As it turns out, it takes a ton of stamina to pull off the “Bet On It” dance and Joshua Bassett trained for the sequence on a treadmill and memorized the video, likely contributing a bit to the YouTube video that has over 15 million views. Check out the sequence:
This might be the best moment to come out of High School Musical now that I think about it. It’s part an interpretive song-and-dance to go with Zac Efron’s Troy Bolton in his journey midway through the Disney franchise and part hype video for anyone who needs an energy boost before a big event. All you have to do is believe! Plus, if Efron totally going for it in a series of empty fields and plains doesn’t get you excited for the day, what will?
High School Musical: The Musical: The Series continues this Friday on Disney+ alongside some exciting new May releases coming to the streaming service this month.
