Even before I first stepped onto the Disney Treasure, anyone who had already seen The Tale of Moana couldn’t wait to tell me how special this ship’s Broadway-style production of the beloved film was. I was excited, especially because Moana is one of my favorite Disney movies, but I have fallen to the beast known as hype many times before.
It wasn’t until I spoke to one of my Disney reps that I began to believe The Tale of Moana may not be what I was expecting. She told me she had been talking to Jodi Kimura, the Hawaiian actress behind the production’s Gramma Tala, and she asked her why she left Broadway to come aboard the Disney Treasure. The answer was simple – it was the first time she was going to be able to perform with her people.
After seeing The Tale of Moana on the Disney Treasure Media Preview Cruise thanks to Disney and speaking to the fantastic team that brought it to life, those words perfectly encapsulated why this show is, in fact, one of the greatest shows I’ve seen in a very long time as it is an incredible celebration of the people and culture that make Moana so beloved around the world.
I Am Moana
The Tale of Moana begins in modern-day Motonui and Kimura’s Tala serves as the show’s narrator who shares the story of Moana with those who now live on the island. From this first scene, you can see the influence of the cultures of the Pacific Islands – from the actors Disney recruited from those same islands to the rendition of ‘An Innocent Warrior’ with authentic dance moves and a mix of languages including Tuvaluan, Tokelauan, and Samoan. It all just feels so genuine, and this is all before we meet the incredible actress behind Moana, Kaenaonālaniowaianuhea Kekoa.
Kekoa is Moana. I can’t put it any better than that. She embodies the character the great Auli’i Cravalho played so perfectly and commands the stage with pure joy, real emotion, and an unbelievable talent that sailed all the way through the audience into our hearts. Oh, and did I mention this was only her first Disney contract?
“I am a girl from an island and I love the sea and my people.”
I could go on and on about her, but I want you to read her words as they convey my point better than I could ever hope to. I asked Kekoa when she knew she was Moana, and this is what she had to say:
“It was probably the moment when I’m on the boat with Gramma Tala, right before the song ‘I am Moana’ and she’s sings, ‘I’m a girl who loves my island, and a girl who loves the sea,’” Kekoa said. “That really got to me as I am a girl from an island and I love the sea and my people and being able to share that with the world… that’s probably the moment I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I am this girl… but we are all this girl!
“We all have ancestors whose legacy we have the honor of carrying on and passing down. So I hope that everybody can see that and a piece of Moana in themselves.”
And for as great as Kekoa was in Moana, the cast and crew around her rose just as high, including co-choreographer Peter Rockford Espiritu.
Espiritu is another native Hawaiian who brought his culture and that of those around him to The Tale of Moana.
“My goal was to represent the Pacific Island cultures all the way around,” Espiritu said. “I lived in Fiji for almost seven years, I taught at the University of South Pacific, and I’ve been to all the island countries, so I’m very familiar with the vocabulary and the dance vocabulary of all of these people. So, it was my goal to represent not only my own culture – Hawaii and Samoan – but also all the Pacific Island cultures to bring the authenticity and the vocabulary of what that means to the storytelling so the audience can feel it.”
“I’m also very proud of the ending,” Espiritu continued. “That whole part was me and I was like, ‘What if we got the drums and just hit it hard and got faster and faster?’ And the musical team got right behind it and we knew it would bring people to their feet. There’s some Fijian, a little Samoan slap dance called Fa’ataupati, and some Haka in there so you can feel that drive and that authenticity at the same time. It’s got that Broadway pizazz!”
It truly did, and that ending that did bring us to our feet for a standing ovation was the perfect follow-up to the stunning final confrontation between Moana, Maui, and Te Kā. Michael Curry Design, the legendary studio that brought Broadway’s Lion King to life, designed and built the massive and imposing Te Kā puppet that moved across the stage. The best trick, however, was how that same puppet transformed into Te Fiti in a moment that had us all in shock and awe.
That last bit really sums up how I felt about The Tale of Moana. I was so impressed by every part of this production and, somehow, the story behind the stage is even more wonderful.
Beyond the Reef
A big question I had going into The Tale of Moana was why it took so long for film to get a stage production. I mean, 2016’s Moana was the most-streamed movie of the past five years, and that’s not just on Disney+. As it turns out, many in the company wondered the same thing.
“I think for all of us, from the very first time we saw Moana, we thought, ‘Oh! This would make an incredible stage show.’ Honestly, I am shocked that this is the first-ever stage adaptation of it,” Jenny Weinbloom, VP of Disney Live Entertainment, said. “This is because Moana, just like the classic films Alan Menken and Howard Ashman worked on like Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Little Mermaid, are created as Broadway musicals that just happened to also be animated films.
“So, it was only natural that they would actually become Broadway musicals someday. And this mirrors Moana with how Lin-Manuel Miranda writes a Disney film. So, we always knew as a larger team that Moana would be part of our future.”
Even though it took a while, the wait was beyond worth it. All the pieces seemed to be in the right place at the right time for The Tale of Moana, and that goes all the way up to the director, Connor Gallagher, whose credits include Broadway’s Beetlejuice and Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.
“I’m a kid from upstate New York,” Gallagher said. “I’m very clearly not a Pacific Islander. So, at a certain point, the voice of that little devil on my shoulder was saying, ‘What right do you have to be at the center of this thing leading the team?’ I then expressed that insecurity to our musical and cultural consultant Aaron Salā and co-choreographer Peter Rockford Espiritu, and they stopped me and said, ‘The only thing you need to do is tell this story beautifully. That will be the greatest gift you can bring to this culture and this story.’ That really stuck with me. It empowered me as an artist to immerse myself in that world and make something worthy of that great gift they gave me.”
As you can tell from my chats with the cast and crew of The Tale of Moana, that desire to tell this story correctly was taken to heart on every level, and it paid off. My only regret is that the only people who get to see this show are those who voyage on the Disney Treasure. However, the sentiment I got was that I’m hardly the only person who feels this version of Moana needs to sail beyond the reef and make its way to Broadway or elsewhere. It’s that good.
“I found myself weeping in the middle of [Beauty and the Beast’s] opening number because Belle’s little provincial French village looked like Motonui.”
All that being said, there is something truly incredible about The Tale of Moana starting on a Disney Cruise Line ship and I think it’s the perfect way to end our story here.
“The Tale of Moana is so powerful, but what I also love about what we do at Disney Cruise Line is that our shows are all performed in rep, which is to say this same cast is performing our other big shows on the ship like Beauty and the Beast,” Weinbloom said. “The first time I saw this cast, who I’d fallen in love in The Tale of Moana, perform Beauty and the Beast, I was struck and I found myself weeping in the middle of that opening number because Belle’s little provincial French village looked like Motonui.
“I just thought, what a beautiful little sense of connection that both of these little villages now have, no matter what the people look like, no matter where our performers may be from, these little villages have so much more in common than we might think. It really is beautiful.”
For more on the Disney Treasure, which just began its Maiden Voyage on December 21, check out why the Haunted Mansion Parlor is the perfect extension of the beloved Disney Parks Attraction and why the Plaza de Coco dining experience was one of the most emotional I’ve had in quite some time.
Adam Bankhurst is a writer for IGN. You can follow him on X/Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on TikTok.
