Auli’i Cravalho needs people to understand what it’s like to be a theater kid
This has been a great year for music Auli’i Cravalho. The Disney star kicked off 2024 by playing the edgy Janis’ Imi’ike in Tina Fey‘S Mean girl musical movies. She then made her Broadway debut by taking on the iconic role of Sally Bowles in the Tony-nominated revival of the play. pub, opposite Adam Lambert. And now she’s reprising the role that made her a household name among Disney fans, returning as the eponymous adventurous princess in the highly anticipated animated musical. Moana 2.
“I remind myself that work in this industry is always seasonal, so there will be a time in the very near future when I will have nothing, nothing at all,” the 24-year-old said. Vanity fair via Zoom. Although she’s grateful for all the opportunities, starring in a Broadway show while also voicing a Disney princess has its challenges. “Even a few months ago, I was still recording for Moana 2 and into her voice, then into Sally’s voice later in the evening of the show. It makes me feel a little schizophrenic: Where is Auli’i again? Who am I?
It might have been easier for the actor to find herself if her hometown of Kohala, Hawaii wasn’t so far from Broadway’s Kit Kat Club. “I haven’t been home for the past six months because I’m here to focus on the show. But I try to go back at least a few times a year,” she said. “There is no place—not Los Angeles, not New York, not any of the locations I have filmed in—that makes me feel more at home than Hawaii. So I will come back as often as possible.”
When she gets a little rest, she knows exactly what she’s going to do: observe sinister. And she has a message for anyone teasing sinister star Ariana Grande And Cynthia ErivoSo did his emotional press tour. “I need people to understand what it’s like to be a theater kid. Being a theater kid is emotional. Get off my girls Ariana and Cynthia. Do you get me? You don’t know what it’s like to work on a film for that long. The film is two hours and 40 minutes long. If you don’t cry after working with someone for that long and you’re both theater kids and singing live…I’m very passionate about this.”
Vanity Fair: Moana has been an important part of your life and career. What was it like stepping into Moana’s shoes in the second half?
Auli’i Cravalho: It’s been a decade for me and for our fans, it’s been eight years since the movie came out. In the Moana-verse, three years have passed for her in Motunui, so it’s cool that my growth is tied to hers. I love this character so much. Her impact continues to amaze me.
I shot the first film in Ōlelo Hawai’i, the native language of Hawaii, which unfortunately is dying. It has been forbidden to speak for many generations, and now [Moana] is being used as a curriculum to help revive that language. Moana is also one of the most widely translated Disney films, including indigenous languages such as Te Reo Māori, Samoan, Tahitian and Ōlelo Hawai’i. So she means a lot to me, but she also means a lot a lot with a lot of other people.
The music in the first film was written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, but the second film featured songs by new composers Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear. What was it like for you and Dwayne Johnson?
They actually grew up in the Disney era so they are Disney fans like us. I really appreciate their songwriting ability. In fact, in our first film, we posed the question “How far will I go” and the powerful ballad “Beyond” [from Moana 2] answer that question. “How far will I go? I will go beyond that.”
