New York City-born Corbin Bleu has spent most of his life in Los Angeles, but recently made a return to his birthplace for his Broadway debut as the lead in the Tony Award-winning musical In the Heights.
His digs felt a little lonely, and the day before his first show, the former High School Musical star went into a Petco store to look around.
"There were lots of hamsters – can't deal," Bleu told PEOPLEPets.com at adoption event Broadway Barks. "But then I went into the fish section, and there was this blue crawfish. I could do a crawfish!"
In a nod to his new role, Bleu named the crawfish Usnavi, the name of his In the Heights character.
"It's not really cuddly, but it's something I like to talk to," Bleu said. "Honestly, it's some other living thing in the house to have, and it's fun to watch."
Asked if watching Usnavi had any therapeutic qualities for him, Bleu said that cleaning the crawfish's tank was stressful, not relaxing.
"But it's really funny, when you clean the tank, he pinches at you and gets really cranky."
When his run on Broadway ends later in August, Bleu will return to L.A. and he's thinking about getting another pet. He was tempted to adopt one of the hundreds of dogs featured at Broadway Barks, but thinks that he'll probably end up getting a kinkajou, a relative of the raccoon, instead.
"They're so cute," Bleu said. "Crawdads, kinkajous– I'm into strange animals!"
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