'Moana' star says people should stop making fun of Ariana Grande & Cynthia Erivo's teary 'Wicked' press tour

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The Wicked promotional run has become the press tour that has spawned a thousand memes, as stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo were seen constantly tearing up, full-out crying and being dramatic while talking about the film. But the star of another musical film — albeit an animated one — says people just don’t understand what it’s like to be, as she puts it, “a theater kid.”

Auli’i Cravalho, who provides the voice of the main character in Disney’s Moana and Moana 2, tells Vanity Fair, “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’s backs. Do you understand me?”

She continues, “You don’t know what it’s like to be working on a film for this long. The film is two hours and 40 minutes long. If you’re not crying after working with someone for that long, and you’re both theater kids and you’re singing live … I am very passionate about this.”

Auli’i says she plans to see Wicked as soon as she can.

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