Aaron Lazar Partners With Singers, Broadway Performers to Raise Awareness for ALS

Aaron Lazar attends "The Last Ship" Broadway opening night in New York City on Oct. 26, 2014. Neilson Barnard/Getty Images

Aaron Lazar, a Broadway mainstay known for his performances in “The Light in the Piazza” and “Les Misérables,” has teamed up with over 60 of his fellow stage luminaries and other renowned singers to raise awareness for ALS—a condition the actor was diagnosed with in 2022.

On Aug. 23, Lazar, 48, will release his debut album, titled “Impossible Dream,” which showcases a spirited collection of cover songs, including Sting’s “Let Your Soul Be Your Pilot” and the Rodgers and Hammerstein hit “You'll Never Walk Alone.”

Speaking to Good Morning America on Tuesday about the project, Lazar said he didn’t want “to be pulled down into the inertia of the disease.”

“I wanted to find a way to stay above it,” he said. “We are doing something not just that helps me heal but to help other people live their impossible dreams.”

The album will feature duets with Josh Groban, Loren Allred, Norm Lewis, Kate Baldwin, Leslie Odom Jr., Kelli O'Hara, and Neil Patrick Harris, per Lazar’s website.

“Impossible Dream” will also include a special duet with the late Rebecca Luker. The actress and singer, who made her Broadway debut in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 1988 musical “The Phantom of the Opera,” passed away in December 2020 at the age of 59 after being diagnosed with ALS a year earlier.

According to a post shared on Aug. 9 by the official Instagram account for the album, Lazar was able to bring the duet with Luker to life by using vocal files of the singer’s voice.

“The Impossible Dream team is beyond honored to celebrate the crystalline voice of the late Rebecca Luker in duet with Aaron on Cole Porter’s, ‘I Am Loved,’” the post reads. “We are so honored to pair her voice with Aaron’s on this very personal album.”

‘Impossible Dream’

Lazar’s upcoming album will conclude with a special rendition of the “Impossible Dream,” a song from the musical “Man of La Mancha,” which the Broadway star performed more than 20 years ago at his alma mater, the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music.

The lyrics begin: “To dream the impossible dream. To fight the unbeatable foe.” They end with: “Yes, and I'll reach the unreachable star.”

Many of Lazar’s Broadway counterparts are also featured on the album’s finale, including Lin-Manuel Miranda, Kristin Chenoweth, Brian d'Arcy James, Brian Stokes Mitchell, and Tony Yazbeck. Yazbeck has known Lazar since college.

“I’m not sure I have ever seen a performance quite like Aaron’s when he played Don Quixote in Man of La Mancha at CCM. He transformed into that role and everyone observed his heart and his soul on full display,” Yazbeck shared in a statement.

“I am now so proud to be a small part of my wonderful friend’s new album. The day of the recording was overflowing love and vulnerabilty starting with the man himself. Aaron again inspired all of us that day and reminded us to stay present and to stay in gratitude mode always. Excited to hear the finished product!”

Lazar will donate a portion of the album’s proceeds to the ALS Network to help find a cure for the rare neurological disorder.

Battle With ALS

Lazar has previously been forthcoming about his battle with ALS.

During an appearance on the “Carefully Taught: Teaching Musical Theatre with Matty and Kikau” podcast on Jan. 2, the singer shared that he had begun experiencing symptoms of ALS about 8 months before he was diagnosed in 2022.

“It’s a terminal disease that kills your nerves and takes your freedom before it takes your life,” he explained.

Formerly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, is a progressive neurodegenerative condition that impacts nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, per Johns Hopkins Medicine.

The symptoms of ALS, such as muscle twitching, weakness, and atrophy, gradually worsen over time, resulting in paralysis, which can affect breathing and voluntary muscle movements like walking, talking, and chewing.

According to the ALS Association, the disease progresses at varying speeds. However, the average life expectancy after diagnosis is around two to five years, with some able to live upwards of ten years. Although there is currently no cure for ALS, treatments are available, which may help slow its progression and increase overall life expectancy, per the National Institutes of Health.

After receiving his diagnosis, the award-winning actor told Good Morning America that he now views each day as a gift.

“[ALS has] changed me because I have focused much more on how to just be in this moment of my life and enjoy this moment ‘cause the next one’s not guaranteed,” he said.