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What Friedman discovered was the same thing his fellow company members and au- diences already knew: Despite specific references to the French Christian society of the early 1800s, when the show takes place, the message of Les Miserables, is universal. "You see images of crosses on stage in the lighting; it's taking place in a Christian society," says Friedman, 26, in an interview prior to a recent performance at- Detroit's Fisher Theater, where the show plays through Dec. 31. "I was questioning how I could fit into all of this. I came up with ideas of mitz- vot, doing good for people; tzedakah, giving back to society what you've taken from it. Helping the wretch- ed poor of the earth: It's a universal theme." Friedman, who says he grew up in a "Conservadox" Jewish home in Los Angeles, joined the first national tour- ing company of Les Miserables this past September. He is a "swing" player who covers all the males roles in the ensemble. Before his connection with Les Miz, as the show is affec- tionately called, Friedman earned a bachelor's degree in theater from UCLA and was an associate cantor at his synagogue. Les Miserables is based on the expansive 1862 Victor Hugo novel which docu- mented the lives of "the miserables ones" — victims of the squalid social conditions in 19th-century France. It details the life of Jean Val- jean, a fugitive whose bit- terness is replaced with love when a tender bishop deomonstrates mercy and forgiveness. The climax of the musical takes place in Paris during the failed student insurrec- tion of 1832. In many ways, the 1987 musical is about changing the world. "It is a theme in Judaism: Getting involved and taking a stand for something," says Friedman. "That's what's ex- citing for me." "In a sense, the thrust of the show is Judeo-Christian; it's a shared heritage," says Andy Gale, 22, a two-year veteran of the touring com- pany who grew up in a secular Jewish home in New York and, later, the Deep South. "It reflects the shared heritage from the Old Testa- ment. 'Love thy neighbor as thyself' is from Leviticus. "I think it is a religious show if you wish to see it that way. It's also a very secular show, and the (novel) is a very secular book. The spelled-out aims of Victor Hugo in writing the book, among other things, were secular: Education, for example. If "I think it is a religious show if you wish to see it that way. It's also a very secular show. people could learn to read and write, they would not have been as downtrodden as they were." Although the show pro- motes the idea that "to love another person is to see the face of God," Gale and Fried- man say the idea of God can be as generic as you wish. "You don't have to be religious to get it," says Gale. "You don't have to define God in the usual way." The characters in Les Miz do not find satisfaction in their lifetimes. The dogmatic and pious Inspector Javert, who tirelessly hounds Val- jean, believes the reward will be found at "the doorway to Paradise" after following "the path of the righteous." "His Paradise is hereafter; it's not present-day," says Gale. "That's distinctly what Victor Hugo wanted to change: The life for people in this world. A rabbi had once said, 'The definition of hereafter is how you are remembered by people you have done good with in this world. " On the subject of universal musicals with religious references, Gale compares Fiddler on the Roof based on the stories of Sholem Aleichem, with Les Miz. The style and tone of Les Miz — dark and sometimes doom-laden — reflect .the background of the French- Catholic society of the time, says Gale. Fiddler, with all its horror