Triple-threat Nicolas Dromard seems to be on a roll. Already a burgeoning performer since his days as a toddler in his native Ontario, Canada, the charming actor-singer-dancer is currently enjoying the second of two significant back-to-back roles in a couple of high-profile stage musicals. In both shows, Dromard excels in playing heroic, extremely likable characters that easily endear him to many theatergoers. But, truthfully, the guy has had lots of practice at it.

Beginning with community theater productions in Canada, the actor often found himself landing gig after gig. At 18 years old, a chance audition in New York City garnered him a spot in the Branson, Missouri cast of the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, his first show on U.S. soil. Soon parts in Canadian regional productions of CRAZY FOR YOU (his personal favorite), WEST SIDE STORY, and GYPSY opened up a path that led him to play Eddie and Pepper in the First National Tour of international hit MAMMA MIA!

Broadway itself came calling soon after, where Dromard appeared in Trevor Nunn's revival of OKLAHOMA!, then in the ensemble of THE BOY FROM OZ, and, later, as the understudy for the character of Bert on MARY POPPINS—a role he will later revisit. But in 2008, he left New York after being summoned by the witches of Oz for a sit-down production of the mega-hit musical WICKED in San Francisco. There Dromard spent almost two years performing as Fiyero, the dashing but self-centered young man who somehow falls for the caring, smart girl with peculiar green skin. The role earned the actor great praise and a legion of rabid new fans.

As the bay area production of WICKED was nearing its close, Dromard would soon learn he'd be once again hanging out with another lady with a penchant for defying gravity (this time, sans broomstick... and, instead, with a bit of Disney magic), which is where we arrive in the present. Now currently traveling North America in the Disney/Cameron Mackintosh stage adaptation of MARY POPPINS, Dromard is once again playing Bert, the show's affable jack-of-all-trades. This time around, though, he has graduated into the role full-time, taking over where Gavin Lee—the actor who originated the part in London, Broadway, and the show's first national tour—left off. A joy to watch as Mary's witty, flue dust-covered pal, the actor vigorously dances, sings and narrates with an infectiously palpable sweetness, making Bert truly his own.

Right before he arrived in Orange County for MARY POPPINS' four-week engagement at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa (which ends August 7), Dromard—while literally driving down the coast of California on the 4th of July—chatted for a bit with BroadwayWorld's Michael Lawrence Quintos about his early theater history, his influences, and how he morphed quickly from Chimney Sweep to Winkie Prince then back again.

Hi, Nicolas! I'm so happy to talk to you again! So, how's the tour been going so far?

It's been going great! We're having a great time hitting all these fantastic cities and, yeah, we're all excited. We all can't wait 'til we get to Costa Mesa!

Cool! Now, you guys are doing the show here in Orange County for four whole weeks! Are you looking forward to doing any fun things in particular while you're down here?

Ohmigosh, so many things! Between Disneyland and Universal Studios... going scuba diving... even a trip to Vegas! [Laughs] There are just so many great things to do!

Awesome! So, you play Bert in the show, which in the MARY POPPINS world is a pretty iconic role. What sort of challenges, if any, did you have to go through in order to take on this world's most famous chimney sweep?

Well, I understudied the role for two-and-a-half years on Broadway. I left [the show] in 2008 to go play Fiyero in WICKED. When Gavin Lee was finishing up the tour, [Disney] started calling up all the Broadway Bert understudies from the past two years to come and re-audition. So I went back... I just took the red-eye from San Francisco... I sang and danced on a Monday. Flew back [to San Francisco] on Tuesday. By the time I landed, there were two messages on my phone—one from my agent and one from the tour director. That was my audition process! I think the reason my audition went so fantastic was that they said "we don't want you to try and copy Dick Van Dyke... bring your own flair and personality to the role, and just be true to the character as opposed to just doing a copy..."