You're welcome. The 2016 Disney film Moana has been adapted for the stage, and Playbill has an exclusive first clip from the show. The new production will be performed aboard the newest Disney Cruise Line ship, the Disney Treasure. See "How Far I'll Go (Reprise)," performed by Kaena Kekoa, in the video above.
The stage adaptation was adapted by Anna K. Jacobs (Teeth) for the stage. It is directed by Connor Gallagher (who choreographed Beetlejuice on Broadway) and features choreography from Peter Rockford Espiritu and Gallagher. The show, which runs an hour long, features Lin-Manuel Miranda and Opetaia Foa’i's songs from the film.
The Tale of Moana will play at the Walt Disney Theatre aboard the Treasure, which has 1,274 seats—making it larger than several Broadway theatres!
"Not only because this is the first stage adaptation of this beautiful story, but also because we connect with its message so much and its story, that's what makes it memorable, and it's going to touch so many people here," said Kekoa to Playbill during a recent press preview of the new show. "To showcase the message of ohana, a family, and to remember that we all come from ancestors, that we have stories to pass down—it's just going to be amazing. And I can't wait for people to see it."
The Tale of Moana isn't a one-to-one adaptation of the film. It actually features a framing device where the spirit of Gramma Tala (played by Jodi Kimura) tells a young group of budding adventurers the story of Moana. Kimura is a Broadway alum (Mrs. Doubtfire) and she also did the scratch tapes for the Moana film in 2014. So for her, it's a full-circle moment: "I ended up meeting Connor doing a job in Florida, and then we did the first reading, and then the workshop. I have been on Broadway, I've been mostly just all over the U.S. and the U.K., and this is my very first time that I've been able to work with my people, people from Hawaii are on the creative team, are on stage. And for me, this experience has been coming home on stage and being able to share this story."
See photos from Tale of Moana below, including a 15-feet tall Te Fiti puppet.
The Disney Treasure will embark on its maiden voyage, a seven-night Eastern Caribbean cruise from Port Canaveral, Florida, on December 21. The itinerary includes stops in the Eastern and Western Caribbean.
Besides Tale of Moana, the Walt Disney Theatre will also feature the Beauty and the Beast stage show and the new original show Disney Seas the Adventure, where Goofy and other Disney characters journey across uncharted waters (while singing beloved Disney songs).
On the other spaces of the ship, there will also be a Coco-themed show at the Plaza de Coco restaurant (where Miguel will lead the audience in a Dia de Los Muertos celebration), an Indiana Jones-themed show where audiences can choose what happens to Indy (in the Sarabi theatre), and an hour-long seance in the Haunted Mansion Parlor (which is also a bar).