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The seamy atmosphere of the Parisian underworld is a far cry from the bucolic environs of Temecula.

Candice Safstrom has one foot in both worlds ---- she grew up in Temecula and is now performing with the Broadway national tour of "Les Miserables," an adaptation of the Victor Hugo novel based in 19th century France. Safstrom, 21, is the understudy for the part of Fantine. She also plays a role as a factory girl and is part of the ensemble.

The show is presently at the National Theatre in Washington, D.C. It is scheduled to come to the Pantages Theater in Los Angeles from June 7-18.

The character of Fantine is a young woman with an illegitimate child who is fired from her factory job and becomes a prostitute to support her daughter. She dies of tuberculosis during the show.

It takes stamina to play the emotionally charged character, said Safstrom, who expects to take the stage as Fantine next month in Minnesota, when the actress playing the part has some personal time off.

"I find myself, whenever I do the part, having a difficult time getting out of character," she said. "It's such an intense role and it takes so much physically and emotionally that it takes me a while after I'm done to try to calm down again."

"Les Miserables" is a show that Safstrom has always wanted to be in, said her mother, Ginger.

"If you had asked her years ago what her dream was, her dream show was 'Les Miz,'" her mother said. "She had always loved the story and the music is fabulous."

When Safstrom got the call to audition for the show, it was originally for another part. After she sang for that role, the officials at the audition asked her to sing for Fantine, she said. She knew Fantine's "I Dreamed a Dream," which the character sings after she's fired from her job at the factory and before she turns to prostitution.

"She's talking about this love that she had, who made her believe that he loved her and then left her, and left her pregnant, so she's all alone," she said. "It's a very desperate song, but yet filled with an inner strength that the character has."

She cried during the audition because of the emotion of the song, she said.

"It went amazing and I felt so good about it," she said. "That doesn't happen every audition."

That state of euphoria after the song dissipated as four months rolled by while she waited to hear if she had gotten the part.

"I thought, 'What do you have to do to get a job?'" she said.

In the meantime, she kept herself busy performing in other shows. In September, her agent called with the good news. Not only had she gotten the part of Fantine, but she had 10 days to get ready to go to Toronto for rehearsals, she said.

As a new actress in an established touring production, Safstrom had two weeks of rehearsing before performing with the show in Toronto, she said. Each female lead role has two understudies. She is replacing another Fantine understudy who left the cast. She performs eight shows a week as the factory girl and part of the ensemble, she said.

She is under a Broadway production contract and makes "good money," she said.

For Safstrom, who graduated from Chaparral High School in 2002, the road to Les Miserables began around the age of 7 or 8 when she first started singing around the house, she said. During one particularly spirited rendition of "Part of Your World," from "The Little Mermaid," her mom took notice, she said.

A neighbor was the area coordinator for Christian Youth Theater and Safstrom would perform in her garage, she said. This neighbor began talking to her parents about getting her to participate in the theater group, she said.

Safstrom got a part in the first Christian Youth Theater musical she auditioned for, "Pollyanna," at age 8. Her first professional show was at age 13, when she performed in "The Secret Garden" in Vista.

She took voice lessons at 10 in Los Angeles and studied dance closer to home, she said. Her voice teacher was Seth Riggs, who has taught a spectrum of singers from Michael Jackson to Barbra Streisand. Later, Safstrom started teaching voice to students in this area, she said. Ultimately, she got an agent in Los Angeles, who sent her out on musical theater auditions.

Since getting the role in "Les Miserables," she has traveled with the show to Missouri and Delaware before Washington, D.C.

She said she is thrilled to be seeing so many different parts of the country.

"I'm at the time of my life where I really should be doing that," she said. 'I'm loving it. I'm going to different cities and experiencing different cultures and seeing different parts of the country that I wouldn't otherwise."

While her mom said she has some reservations about her daughter traveling so often, they are superseded by pride in Candace's accomplishments.

"That's been very exciting, just to see your child work so long and so hard at something, and then realize a dream can come true through hard work," said Ginger Safstrom, the youth services librarian at the Temecula library. "It's very rewarding as a parent. It's a tough business."

Safstrom's family ---- her parents and brother Erik, 16 ---- came to Washington, D.C., in December and saw the show on Christmas, Candice Safstrom said.

Her mom said she was delighted to see it.

"It's just such a wonderful story and the audience embraces it and loves it," Ginger Safstrom said. "They get a standing ovation every night. It's got a huge following and we've been fans of the show for years. So, it's a real thrill to see her be a part of it and it's an amazing cast."

The show is being advertised as the final engagement of "Les Miserables" and is scheduled to end in July, Candice Safstrom said.

After the tour ends, she intends to move to New York City and work on Broadway regularly, as well as continue to seek TV and film roles, she said. She has been on an episode of "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer" and recently played the female lead in an independent film of a movie musical, "Zombie Prom," she said.

"Now my focus is musical theater, but a lot of crossover is happening now with TV and film ---- whatever opportunities present themselves," she said.

Contact staff writer Deirdre Newman at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2623, or dnewman@californian.com. To comment on this article, go to www.californian.com.