Please welcome back to our show,
Auli'i Cravalho!
(audience cheers and applauds)
You look beautiful!
Thank you.
Hi!
I don't think I remembered to ask you
last time you were here what your name means.
It's such a beautiful name.
Thank you.
I'm an only child so my mom named me Auli'i
and it means dainty, exquisite and perfect.
Oh.
Well that's a lot to live up to!
It is.
I am currently trying to live up to that.
Yeah, no I think you're doing pretty good.
Thank you.
So Rise, to me, when I read the description of this show
when I heard it was coming up, I thought,
"Well this is like Fame."
Like, when I was young, I used to watch Fame on TV,
I saw the movie Fame, and I was obsessed with it.
Irene Cara was amazing to me.
This is kind of like a Fame for a new generation for me.
But can you set it up for these guys?
Thank you.
Well if you were obsessed with Fame
I hope you become obsessed with Rise.
Rise is really just focused on students and teachers
and an entire working town that becomes galvanized
by one teacher, Lou Mazzuchelli,
and specifically the theater department.
He wants to make a difference and instead of putting on
any other show, he puts on Spring Awakening
and decides to wake everyone up.
For my character, Lillette Suarez,
she comes from humble beginnings,
she grows up in a single-parent household
and I completely related to that.
She's rising above her circumstances, so to speak.
And do you have romance?
(audience applauds)
Rosso and I were talking about,
you're so close to your mom.
We were talking about,
it must be awkward if your mom is right over there
and you have dating drama.
Even if you're fake-making out,
you're still making out in front of your ma.
(audience laughs)
That's so weird!
Yeah!
Yeah.
It's so weird!
It's so weird.
Is it more weird for you or her, you think?
Oh, it's so weird for her.
(Rachael laughs)
It's so weird for her.
I actually got to have my first kiss and stuff,
and it's with Damon Gillespie, who plays Robbie in our show
and he's fantastic.
He's so sweet,
and my mom talked to him before the kiss scene.
Oh I bet she talked to him before!
(audience laughs)
Oh she talked to him.
And it was completely respectful.
There was no tongue, there was none of that.
'Cause she talked to him before!
So you're going to be Moana again, right?
You're doing a reprise of Moana.
(audience applauds)
In the Wreck-It Ralph series, right?
The next one is Ralph Breaks the Internet?
Yes, Wreck-It Ralph 2.
Wreck-It Ralph 2, which is hilarious and very adult.
John C. Reilly I just adore and Sarah Silverman.
Did you see the first one?
I did, I saw the first one.
Thank goodness, 'cause I'm in the second one.
(Rachael laughs)
It's fun!
It's really, really fun.
It's so fun, right?
But it is cool to finally have a body
to match the voice in real life.
That is true.
(audience applauds)
Thank you.
Do you remember what I told you about my niece, Vivi?
My niece was so obsessed with Moana.
We were thrilled about her being very obsessed with it
because she's such a positive role model.
At five years old, she started living in the Moana costume.
She's a little blonde child
and she had this giant Elvira-looking black wig
(laughs)
And she lived in a hula skirt.
Even at the Christmas table, wore her hula skirt!
(audience laughs)
Like, her grass skirt.
I really, sincerely hope you told her she is Moana.
Yeah, she really is.
You are Moana.
She is a warrior!
Oh yeah.
Warrior!
I'm sure Vivi will love to see Rise, too.
She's getting a little older now,
so hopefully we can get her away from the wig
and into watching Rise.
Rise airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on NBC, right?
Yes.
Thank you so much, darling, nice to see you again.
Grab a snack, come on back.
(audience applauds)