Two months into preparing an album with an extensive guest list, actor Aaron Lazar had one question: What have we done?
“The costs are rising and we’ve got this amazing roster of artists, their managers and their press representatives to deal with,” he says. “It became this really, really epic project. But there was no turning back at that point.”
The result, “Impossible Dream,” features a who’s who of Broadway singing a host of inspirational songs with Lazar. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the ALS Network – something Lazar knows a little something about. Diagnosed more than two years ago with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a neurodegenerative disorder, Lazar has been a vocal advocate for others dealing with the disease. In addition to speaking around the country about his journey, he decided it could get more attention with a “We Are the World”-like project.
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Aaron Lazar records a song for "Impossible Dream," a new album of duets and group songs.
“The Impossible Dream,” a number from “Man of La Mancha” seemed like a natural, since it addressed Lazar’s life for the last few years. “We got into the studio and I was like, ‘Hold on. Why am I doing this? I don’t need to hear myself sing this song again,’” so he decided to break it into a series of performances and a huge chorus. The result is one of those stirring anthems that includes everyone from Kristin Chenoweth to Josh Groban to Lin-Manuel Miranda.
“From a logistical perspective, it was a juggernaut,” Lazar admits. Producers pulled everyone together and “people had 10-minute slots. Everybody was coming in from show rehearsals and lunch breaks. It was unbelievable.”
The result, he says, is a testament to the friendships that form on Broadway. “It reminded me of my early years in the city, when you get into a room and it’s like you’re with your heroes, but you’re wearing sweatpants and you’re in a s----- rehearsal studio and there’s nothing but words on a page. It felt like old home week. It felt like a bunch of friends getting together to do what we do, which is pour our hearts and passion into things and take risks.”
Kristin Chenoweth duets with Aaron Lazar on his new album, "Impossible Dream." She is among dozens of Broadway performers who answered the call for the project.
For the 48-year-old star of shows like “Light in the Piazza,” “A Little Night Music” and “Les Miserables,” the project was a way to shift the focus from his disease.
“I live my life as a healthy person and I deal with the challenges that ALS may bring with as little time as you know it needs,” Lazar says. “I have to be patient and gentle with myself…the healing process from this is pretty unique. It’s not something I can fix by exercising my way out of it. It’s a delicate process…it’s a transformative journey of the soul and I’m very grateful and honored that while I’m on this journey, I can share it.”
While he had ALS as a wakeup call, others have other kinds of adversity they’re dealing with.
Actor Aaron Lazar has created an album of duets that will benefit the ALS Network.
“There’s power in not presuming that you know what anybody else might be going through or how they feel about it. I believe love ultimately heals everything and it has to come from within. We have to love ourselves in order to love each other. That’s been a journey. It sounds cliché but it’s been anything but. It’s been an eye-opening, awakening of an experience.”
Before ALS, Lazar says, he didn’t know how to integrate situations. “These impossible circumstances have the potential to be divine opportunities.”
While the father of two is still acting and performing, he knows he doesn’t have the strength to do eight shows a week on a Broadway stage.
Other options – like the album – have opened.
When he was in his 20s, Lazar starred in a production of “Man of La Mancha” and remembers having an out-of-body experience when his character climbed a big staircase out of a dungeon prison. “This big metal door shut behind me and the lights went out. The show was over and I burst into tears. I just had, for the first time in my life, an appreciation that I was doing what God had put me on the planet to do. I was sort of overwhelmed with awe and gratitude.”
Aaron Lazar, left, starred with Corey Cott and Olivia Macklin in the Fox series, "Filthy Rich."
Now, “The Impossible Dream” is back in his life and giving him new purpose.
A second album? “I would love to,” the former “Yellowstone” and “Avengers” star says. “It’s like when you do guest star work on a television series and then you become a series regular and then you’re on set every day, in the trenches doing it. I love every minute of making it and I would love to make another one.”
The first album? “It’s just naivete,” Lazar says. “It’s just being an artist and having an idea and then people crazy enough to support me. I don’t think any of us had an idea what we were in for.”
“Impossible Dream” is now available online.
Bruce Miller is editor of the Sioux City Journal.
