Video: Auliʻi Cravalho Talks Balancing CABARET and MOANA 2

2024 is a busy year for Auliʻi Cravalho. In addition to making her Broadway debut in the current production of Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club, the performer is returning to the beloved role of Moana in Disney's highly anticipated sequel.

"I absolutely love Cabaret. I also love that it is so very different from Moana," Cravalho shared on a recent visit to Live with Kelly and Mark. "To be able to do them juxtaposed, one after the other...has really stretched me in a great way," she added.

She also noted that Cabaret feels distinctly different from her previous credits and that she has enjoyed "learning that [live theatre] is a very different art form from live-action and television. Now, I feel like the beauty is in the consistency [and] going on a roller-coaster of emotions every single night." 

As for Moana, Cravalho is thrilled that Disney has allowed the character to grow up and age. "In the time that we haven't seen [Moana], she has become a master voyager, she has traveled all the islands, and she is looking and searching for people," Cravalho teased.

Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club is currently running at the August Wilson Theatre, starring Adam Lambert and Auli'i Cravalho as 'Sally Bowles'.  The cast also includes Bebe Neuwirth as ‘Fraulein Schneider;’ Calvin Leon Smith as ‘Clifford Bradshaw,’ 2024 Tony Award nominee Steven Skybell as ‘Herr Schultz;’ Henry Gottfried as ‘Ernst Ludwig,’ and Michelle Aravena as ‘Fritzie/Kost.’ 

Walt Disney Animation Studios’ epic animated musical Moana 2 reunites Moana (voice of Cravalho) and Maui (voice of Johnson) three years later for an expansive new voyage alongside a crew of unlikely seafarers. With music by Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, Moana 2 opens in theaters on November 27, 2024. The first Moana debuted in theaters on Nov. 23, 2016, grossing nearly $644 million in global box office.