'So You Think You Can Dance' contest winner Ricky Ubeda joins Broadway show

NEW YORK (AP) – The newest winner of TV's "So You Think You Can Dance" is ready for his Broadway close-up.

Ricky Ubeda, a 19-year-old from Miami, won the Fox TV contest show in September and will join the ensemble of Broadway's "On the Town" at the Lyric Theatre starting Feb. 27.

"I'm super-pumped," said Ubeda on Wednesday from frozen Fargo, North Dakota, where his tour with the other Season 11 finalists ended. "Anything warmer than here," he joked. "It's in the negatives."

Ubeda has seen rehearsals of "On the Town" and called it "huge," ''amazing" and "some of the hardest dancing on Broadway."

In addition to a $250,000 prize and the dance title, Ubeda won a part in the musical. "I'm going to be in great shape from the tour. It's a really rigorous show," he said.

"On the Town," which was made into a 1949 film starring Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra, features the songs "New York, New York" and "Lonely Town." In the show, three sailors on leave jump around the city looking for love.

It's been a crazy few months for Ubeda, who graduated high school in May, won the TV contest he's been watching since he was a child, went out on tour and now will be living alone for the first time in New York with a job on Broadway.

"To get an amazing part on Broadway after winning a show like that is just something I couldn't have dreamed of. I'm definitely grateful for the whole experience," he said. "It's going to be a big experience for me."

Most of Ubeda's former cast-mates are heading to Los Angeles after the tour to try to break into show business, but some hope to catch his Broadway debut. "They've been a great support system. They're like family to me," Ubeda said.

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