Stage star is on a Miz-sion from God

By GERSH KUNTZMAN

IT IS one of the oddest playbill bills on Broadway: "David Fisher began singing professionally in the Israeli Defense Forces Entertainment Corps ... he continues to perform as a cantor at Kutsher's in the Catskills." And because of his religious beliefs, Fisher does not perform on Friday nights or Saturday matinees, both of which occur during the Jewish Sabbath. This is a Broadway leading man? Yes, David Fisher is the latest to play Jean Valjean in "Les Miserables" on Broadway, but his story is worthy of Hollywood. One of Israelis best-known cantors, Fisher might have spent his whole life singing Jewish prayers to aging temple congregants were it not for a chance trip to London in the mid-1980s. "Everywhere I went I'd hear the same music. Finally, I asked, 'What is this music?' My cousin couldn't believe it. I had never heard of 'Les Miz' because at the Yeshiva (Jewish religious high school) they didn't teach us about Victor Hugo." When he finally saw the play, he cried. "The play ended and the next thing I remember is the janitor tapping me on the shoulder. I was absolutely alone in the theater. He said, 'Excuse me, sir. The show is over.' I looked up and I don't know what made me say it but I said, 'No, sir, the show is just beginning!'" What he meant was his obsession with "Les Miz. "I told my manager I'd go anywhere for an audition. He thought I was mashuga (crazy). He said, 'They're bringing that play to Israel next month.' I don't know where I got the chutzpah, but I said to him, 'No way it's coming here without me in it!'"

When the play opened in Tel Aviv in 1987, David Fisher was Jean Valjean, the deeply spiritual man who overcomes a prison sentence and the French Revolution to find life's inner peace. The gig led to a Royal Command Performance in London, which Fisher now calls "the Queen thing."

"David Fisher is Jean Valjean,' said associate director Richard Jay-Alexander. "He has all the goodness and warmth and all the things we would like to be. He sings from his guts and soul, not from actor technique he learned in college." Theatrical success is a long way from the Israeli Defense Forces where Fisher and 11 others