Just a few years ago, 23-year-old David Rossetti didn’t expect to be performing in a nationally touring play. Now, just a few years after his high school graduation, the Melbourne, Fla., native lives out of a suitcase and travels from city to city playing the character of Goody in “Fame.”

“It’s my first [professional] show, and it is so close to me,” Rossetti says.

“I only went to high school four years ago, and it was my dream to graduate and go on a national tour.”

Inspired by the TV series “Fame,” the musical tells the story of high school students attending New York’s High School of Performing Arts. Each character plays a student trying to become famous in his or her own chosen performing art of singing, acting, dancing or playing an instrument.

Rossetti’s dream started off quite differently.

“I wanted to be a marine biologist when I was in junior high,” Rossetti says.

“Then in high school, I got a role of the town idiot in ‘Rubber Brag Room’ and found out I could make people laugh on stage and thought it was fun.”

In “Fame,” Rossetti plays the role of Goody, a music student.

“He is one of those quirky, nerdy characters that plays trumpet on stage,” Rossetti says. “I pretty much was Goody in high school, always running around with my trumpet trying to make people laugh.”

Rossetti auditioned for the musical after seeing a poster advertising auditions at the South East Theater Conference. He says he thought it would be fun and decided to send in a tape of himself playing the trumpet to see what happened.

Since graduating from Valdosta State University in May 2003 with a degree in theater performance, Rossetti has now been touring with “Fame” for nine months. He admits that sometimes, the schedule is so hectic he forgets what town he is in and says he has done up to as many as six shows in six days in six different states.

“A typical day consists of waking up at 6 a.m., loading the bus and driving to the next city,” Rossetti says.

“I try to get some sleep on the bus before we arrive at the next destination by about 3 p.m. Then I usually try to go to a gym before our 5:45 performance meeting. Sound check is at 6:30, and call is at 7. We do the show and then go to sleep and wake up and do it again the next day.”

“Fame” ends its U.S. national tour in Jackson, Miss., on June 9. The cast will have one month off before the show opens in South Korea. They will also be performing in Shenhei and Beijing, China.

“I am so excited,” Rossetti says. “I think this is only the fourth musical ever to go to China, besides ‘Les Miserables,’ ‘Phantom of the Opera’ and ‘Sound of Music.'”

He says this is a musical everyone can relate to.

“It is a fun, cute, heartwarming show that you can get caught up in,” Rossetti says.

“It’s fun to reminisce and go back to the high school days. I want people to leave with a smile on their face and feel like they have gone through high school with us and have joined us in our final culmination of graduation on stage.”