Todd Jacobsson performed in so many Ballarat musical theatre productions as a child that he lost count.
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But his love for the stage from his early years set him on a path to travel the world performing in blockbuster musicals at some of the world's best known venues.
As a child Jacobsson learned his craft in countless BLOC and Lyric musical productions, tackled all of the performing arts he could at school at Ballarat Clarendon College and learned dance at Ballarat Ballet Centre.
Now he's performing in Wicked at Melbourne's Regent Theatre as an ensemble member and understudy for the roles of Fiyero.
Wicked is a show dear to his heart. Like many of his current cast-mates he saw the show during its last Melbourne season a decade ago and dreamed of one day being part of its cast.
Since leaving Ballarat just days after his 18th birthday to perform on a cruise ship his career has criss-crossed across the globe.
"Most people go off to study tertiary musical theatre or full-time dance or something along those lines and that was 100 per cent my plan. I wanted to go to WAAPA (Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts) and my plan was to do that but when I was presented with a job on a cruise ship I thought maybe it's best I go off for a year, mature, grow up, save money then come back and study ... that was about 11 years ago," he said.
"Touch wood I've been fortunate enough to have learned on the job. Being in performing arts I talk to a lot of friends in a similar position. So many people end up where they are coming from different back stories, different walks of life and different ways of getting there."
In 2009 Jacobsson received a Ballarat Arts Foundation scholarship to help further his career.
After finishing his years as a cruise ship performer his first professional musicals were with The Production Company in Melbourne doing Pirates of Penzance and Guys and Dolls.
He then won a role in the Australian premiere of Book of Mormon understudying the role of Elder Price before going on to star in the Australian and international tour of West Side Story, as the understudy of Hans in Frozen, Hairspray in 2022 as the understudy for the role of Link Larkin and now Wicked.
His role in Hairspray was a "full circle moment" as it was also the last show he did in Ballarat for Lyric Theatre in 2012.
His first musical theatre role in Ballarat was for the BLOC Junior production of Bugsy Malone in 2003. The previous year he had seen a local production of The Wizard of Oz and watched the children playing the munchkins.
"I had been dancing since I was about five and I remember seeing those kids thinking why am I not there too. It looked like the best fun in the world. That was 2003 and until I left Ballarat in 2012 I did probably three musicals a year."
"I wanted to be involved in everything ... to be part of the theatre family especially in a town like Ballarat. I remember finding my tribe with the theatre performers ... like finding a new family.
"I just love it. I live and breathe musical theatre, every inch of me does. I wish everyone could experience this amount of joy," he said.
Jacobsson acknowledges he has been lucky to be in a string of major blockbuster musicals.
"A lot of people go through their whole career wanting to be in one huge major blockbuster and I've been lucky to be in a few," he said. "Wicked is definitely at the top of this list - it's won over 100 major awards.
"For everyone in this (current) production of Wicked, we are all of that generation who saw it last time and dreamed of being in it. I saw that (last) production and I saw all these amazing performers in it who I looked up to and thought one day I hope to be in that exact show.
"It changed my life, it really did ... to now standing on that exact stage in this exact costume it's quite a surreal thing."