BROADWAY'S AARON LAZAR: LIVING WITH ALS 'This Has Changed Me for the Better'

SINCE HIS DIAGNOSIS IN JANUARY 2022, THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA STAR HAS DECIDED TO LOOK BEYOND THE PHYSICAL CHALLENGES AND FOCUS ON HEALING FROM WITHIN'

- DAVE QUINN

"The Impossible Dream" has taken on new meaning for actor Aaron Lazar. Originally, it was a song he sang while playing the role of Don Quixote in his grad school's 2000 production of Man of La Mancha. But the Broadway ballad has become a mantra for the stage veteran, who's on what he calls "a healing journey," after being diagnosed in early 2022 with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)-an incurable neurodegenerative disorder with a life expectancy of three to five years. "All the things in life that feel impossible can become possible if you believe," says Lazar, 47, a star known for two decades of roles in musicals like The Light in the Piazza, Les Misérables and A Little Night Music.

"I used to say becoming an actor was my impossible dream, but it happened. And now I've set a new impossible dream: to not fight ALS but to heal from it spiritually, emotionally-and yes, physically. The odds of beating a terminal disease are not very high, but who's to say what's impossible?"