Auliʻi Cravalho has been pulling double duty across two coasts. Seven shows a week through March 30, she stars as Sally Bowles in Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club on Broadway. When she’s not belting “Maybe This Time” or gulping down a raw egg at August Wilson Theatre in NYC, she’s been juggling press around the country for Moana 2, out in theatres November 27.
It’s been invigorating switching focus between promoting the Disney animated film about a teenage girl on a quest to fulfill a promise to her ancestors and the musical that explores the seedy nightclub life leading up to the rise of the Nazi regime in Berlin in the early 1930s. Since Moana and Sally are worlds apart from each other, Cravalho feels it’s almost like a break, going back and forth.
“Sally allows me to be the performer I want to be, to leave everything out on stage every night, and Moana feels like coming home, where I know her. She is me. I am she,” Cravalho, in full stage makeup, tells Broadway Direct from her dressing room an hour before showtime.
She demonstrates how at times it’s gotten confusing to switch between the two voices. The film crew recently told her that she sounded off while doing some voice recordings for the animation. As Sally, she uses a British accent with the vowel sounds coming from the back of her throat, whereas for Moana, everything is forward and focused.
Cravalho, from Hawaii, was 14 when she booked the title role that made her a star in Hollywood. The first film came out the day after her 16th birthday, in 2016. Cravalho went on to star as Ariel in ABC’s The Little Mermaid Live! and most recently as Janis ‘Imi’ike in the movie-musical adaptation of Mean Girls.
Now 24, she returns to Moana with a more experienced point of view and, as she explains, part of the process rather than just being the talent. “For our sequel, this is the first time a Disney princess has ever been allowed to age. So I felt like I have grown since the first time I’ve played this character, and so has she.”
This time, Moana and her friends travel even farther out to sea after receiving an unexpected call from her ancestors. “If our first film was about connecting to the past, this film is about connecting with our future and furthering the call and seeing if there were other people out there in the Pacific instead of just in Motunui,” she says. “I feel more responsibility, as I think many of us do, coming into a sequel to not only meet fan expectations, but continue the story. Luckily, Moana has a lot more story to tell.”
Songs for the original Moana were written by Hamilton’s Lin-Manuel Miranda. Cravalho even performed his Oscar-nominated “How Far I’ll Go” live at the 2017 Academy Awards. For the sequel, Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, who won a Grammy Award for best Musical Theater Album with The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical, are at the helm.
Working with these two female songwriters has been a dream for Cravalho. Barlow records all the scratch tracks of the music for her. “There’s such a collaborative process between the two of us — it’s just invaluable. I feel more inclined to ask questions, to try new things,” she says, counting there are about six or seven songs in the film. “I love the fact that they are so present in their pop era. And yet, obviously, having grown up with these Disney films, they also know what a big Disney Broadway kind of number sounds like. I think this film really gives them a chance to shine in so many different areas. We have raps, we have power ballads. We have fun sing-alongs that are reminiscent of The Lion King.”
In addition to Moana 2, Cravalho also serves as executive producer on the live-action Moana, directed by Hamilton’s Thomas Kail. She previously announced she didn’t want to return to the role.
“Not because I don’t think I could have done it, but because I don’t have to. I’ve already made my mark with Moana, and I get the animated version of her,” she says. “Moana is meant to be 16 in our original film. I have chopped all my hair off. I’m in Cabaret. My career is thankfully moving forward in such a beautiful direction, and Moana started that. I know how important a character like Moana is, so having [live-action star] Catherine Laga’aia as our Moana also makes sense. There are so very few young Polynesian women in this industry that passing that baton is a no-brainer. She’s gorgeous. She’s going to do this character justice.”
Will there be a new song or two by Miranda in the live-action version?
“My lips are sealed there, my friend.”