Jun 14, 2016 12:06 PM EDT
Just as Lin-Manuel Miranda took home two new Tony Awards for his role as the creator of Broadway smash Hamilton, the first footage from his next project was revealed to the world: the score for Moana! Disney has just released the first teaser trailer for their Hawaiian-based animated film, starring Dwayne Johnson as demi-god Maui!
The absolutely charming Moana teaser has Johnson showing off his ever-charming self, only this time around, giving us a sneak peek of his magical animated tattoos as Disney mixes up 3D animation with their classic one. Much like Hercules back in 1997, (which was scored by legendary film composer Alan Menken), the story has some big involvement of a godly, magical figure, this time in the voice of The Rock.
The teaser opens with Maui telling his story to title character Moana (newcomer teenage actress Auli'i Cravalho), who seems thoroughly unimpressed with everything going on. Afterwards, the first notes from a Hawaiian-inspired tune are heard, and as anyone who's been listening to the Hamilton cast album will tell you, Miranda's voice is heard singing about "explorers reading every sign," as the teaser informs that other songwriters in the project include Opetaia Foa'i and Mark Mancina.
A couple of months back, Miranda took to Twitter to inform his followers that he'd shown his young son one of the songs he'd written for Moana, specifically for Johnson, and it had been a big success. So, besides lovely animation, Disney and Broadway fans can hope for great things in this new animated movie!
Besides Johnson and Cravalho, other cast members announced so far are Alan Tudyk and Phillipa Soo, who currently co-stars on Miranda's Hamilton as Alexander Hamilton's wife, Eliza, in a role that earned her a Tony nomination.
According to MTV, Moana will be as much about Hawaiian/South Pacific culture as it will be about the Pacific Ocean, which will be practically another character in the movie.
"The whole idea of voyaging wasn't in our initial story," said co-director John Musker, who also brought to life The Little Mermaid and the aforementioned Hercules. "And then we learned what a source of pride it was for [the people of the Pacific Islands], that they were the world's first great navigators, using dead reckoning to find their way across the ocean. We wanted to celebrate that."
This is the first 3D-animated film for Musker and Ron Clemens, who have been working together for decades and most recently teamed up for The Princess and the Frog. Moana will reach theaters on November 23.
