After first being diagnosed with pneumonia, Broadway actor Nick Cordero has been hospitalized, battling severe complications from COVID-19, since March 31. This weekend, his former Waitress cast mates collaborated from home on a cover of an original 2018 song by Cordero entitled “Live Your Life.†Waitress songwriter and lyricist Sara Bareilles joined Jessie Mueller, Kimiko Glenn, Keala Seattle, Jenna Ushkowitz, and Eric Anderson, among others, for the video posted Sunday, which directs viewers to a GoFundMe to raise money for Cordero’s ongoing medical bills.
According to the actor’s wife Amanda Kloots, who has been posting updates about his recovery on Instagram, Cordero received a temporary pacemaker last week due to an irregular heart beat. Earlier this month, he had his right leg amputated due to blood clotting, another complication from the novel coronavirus, and suffered a lung infection. As of today, the actor is reportedly still on a ventilator. In addition to playing Waitress’s Earl in 2016, Cordero performed in Broadway’s A Bronx Tale and starred in the Off-Broadway production of The Toxic Avenger. In 2014, he was nominated for a Best Featured Actor Tony for his turn in Bullets Over Broadway. Cordero had moved to L.A. with his family earlier this year to star in Rock of Ages.