Kristin Chenoweth and her dog, Thunder.
Nom Nom
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Before her return to the stage this fall, famous dog mom Kristin Chenoweth is using some of her Broadway magic to guide pet parents.
The Tony Award-winning star channels “a little bit of Glinda” as the Enrichment Witch in veterinarian-developed pet food company Nom Nom‘s latest spot. “A dog has more demands to life than belly rubs and sleep!” the Wicked actress declares before offering up tips for keeping bored canines happy and fulfilled. “Puzzles at mealtime, a sniffari session and tasty entertainment” with the brand’s nutritious treats are just a handful of options she gives in the ad for “making mealtime more magical.” (Watch the campaign below.)
Chenoweth knows a paw-ful lot about how to treat pups like royalty. Her 8-year-old service dog, Thunder, is her travel companion and helps provide support for Meniere’s disease and anxiety. The actress has even gone so far as to requiring in her contract that her refrigerated Nom Nom food is easily accessible wherever she goes. Thunder “goes crazy” for one of Nom Nom’s latest recipes, Lamb Pilaf, which joins a lineup of fresh dog meals such as Turkey & Chicken Cookout, Beef Mash, Pork Potluck and others.
“It looks like our food! It’s a whole balanced meal! It’s awesome to see,” Chenoweth tells The Hollywood Reporter. “I’ve been feeding Thunder freeze-dried food her whole life [and] I was like, I feel like I should be doing something different. I gave [Nom Nom] to her and first of all, I was unprepared for all the flavors they have. And like us, dogs like variety. She was always happy and she loved mealtime. But she went crazy. … You know how you see your dog smile? She was doing that and she was eating, and that led into a great walk, which led into a great playtime and great snuggle time. It was a domino effect.”
Nom Nom’s subscriptions start at about $200 for two weeks of full meals for a medium dog, and new subscribers also get a 50 percent discount on their first order. The brand is also available at Petsmart and Chewy.
In addition to her role as Nom Nom’s Enrichment Witch, the 56-year-old actress will reunite with Wicked composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz in The Queen of Versailles, in which she stars as controversial socialite Jackie Siegel opposite of F. Murray Abraham. Debuting Nov. 10 at St. James Theatre (previews begin Oct. 8), the musical is based on the 2012 documentary of the same name and marks Chenoweth’s return to Broadway since she last performed in 2019.
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“It does reunite Stephen Schwartz and I, but it is not Wicked. A lot of people might be disappointed if they come and they think they’re going to hear that kind of a score. It’s not that. It’s something else,” Chenoweth reveals. “I’m really excited for the world to see it. It’s my baby, I’ve been working on it for a long time.”
The Descendants star sits down with THR to talk about what convinced her to team with Nom Nom, her thoughts on the Broadway world’s recent drama, her and Thunder’s travel essentials and more.
I have to start off by mentioning that my daughter is totally ecstatic that I’m talking to “Mal’s mom” from The Descendants.
I’ll take it, Maleficent! I’ll have kids come up to me and they’re crying. They’re scared. I’m like, “No, it’s OK. It’s OK! I’m really nice.”
You must field a lot of partnership offers. What made you say yes to Nom Nom?
Well, I’ve been feeding Thunder freeze-dried food her whole life, and you know how the universe works. I was like, I feel like I should be doing something different. But when called and said they wanted me to be the Enrichment Witch, I was like, “I don’t know what that is. Send me the food and let me see if she likes it.” Well, I gave it to her and first of all, I was unprepared for all the flavors they have. And like us, dogs like variety. I gave it to her and I swear, her whole mood — I mean, she was always happy and she loved mealtime. She’s a dog! But she went crazy.
You know they say, just like us, happier human makes a healthier human. And for me, that’s what I saw in my dog. She was so happy. You know how you see your dog smile? She was doing that and she was eating, and that led to a great walk, which led to a great playtime and great snuggle time. It was a domino effect, and I did it for about a week. I really can’t talk about something if I don’t believe in it. And she tried all the flavors and I saw her just a change in her.
So to me, that’s what the Enrichment Witch means. It’s the domino effect of making your dog a happy, healthy baby. And she’s 8 years old now, and I was like, how’s that going to be switching the food? She is doing so great. She loves it. She likes the chicken. She likes all of it, but the lamb pilaf — I don’t know what it is [about it], but she goes crazy. It looks like our food! It’s a whole balanced meal! It’s awesome to see.
Nom Nom Chicken Jerkey Treats
As a fellow dog owner, I know the risk of changing their food. Sometimes there’s cleanup involved.
There’s a lot of cleanup involved! She’s been on it now for I want to say three months and I don’t plan on changing her food now. It’s kind of hard for me when I travel because you need to keep it refrigerated, but I have it in my contract now. She’s always been a happy dog, but I just see a difference.
What’s your secret to traveling with Thunder? How does everyone stay happy while flying?
Well, she went to obedience school and became a service animal as a puppy. I live on a plane, so why get a dog if you’re not going to be with the dog? So my dog travels with me. This might not be very popular to say, but she has a little CDB oil that just keeps everything calm and knocks her out. Just a little bit of that!
She does not bark. She’s been trained, but when she was a puppy, how I trained her — and a lot of people have different feelings about it — is [with] a little can of air. I still travel with this just in case. It doesn’t hurt the dog, it’s just air. It snaps her into not barking. And then she gets her Nom Nom treats, of course — the pepperoni chicken ones.
She does have one toy, and it’s the OG puppy. When I adopted her she has a really, really raggedy dog. It used to have a heartbeat in it, and it would light up and make that sound. Well, she found that really quick and tore it up. But we still have the puppy dog!
Original Snuggle Puppy Heartbeat Puppy for Dogs
Do you or Thunder have a favorite dog carrier?
She’s the max [weight] you can fly with, but she can fly anyway because she’s [a service dog]. I got the regular one at Target that’s built for the plane. Believe me, the dog before her had a Burberry. I had a Maltese who I adored — she was my baby too. Madeline Kahn was her name, and she traveled in a little Burberry. She was so cute. I never thought I’d get over her, and so I never thought I’d get another dog.
But Thunder, she’s more of a “dawg,” you know? So she has a pet carrier that’s not very attractive.
We always somehow find a new furry family member at the right time. You know what I mean?
Do I. Maddie, I thought I’d never get over her, and I would pass this shelter in L.A. when I lived there all the time, and about six months into her passing, I was so depressed. I mean, I was sad. And she came to me in a dream. I kid you not, and she was like, “Your dog’s down the street.” I thought, This is just me being sad, right? So before I could help myself, my car drove into the parking lot and I found my Thunder.
The only reason I don’t adopt an older dog is because I need to train her to be on a plane. And that was what I was doing at that time. I really needed to train her. And there was one, she was behind the counter of the pet place, and the lady goes, “My wife won’t let me have another dog. There is one here behind the counter. But I love her so much.” And I said, “Well, can I just meet her?” And out comes Thunder.
You can never “just look” when you visit a pet shelter.
I can’t go to them! Even Petco when they have their adoption, even cats, I’m like, “I have to leave!”
Did you channel any of your past characters for the role?
Little bit of Glinda, maybe a tiny bit!
Pivoting to your return to Broadway, what pulled you into The Queen of Versailles?
I think what pulled me in is very brave idea, a little scary. And also really, it begs the question of all of us, because we are a reality-based Instagram, instant gratification society now. And when I watch reality TV, I hate to say it, I judge. I go, “Why is she acting like that? Why are they doing that? That looks stupid.” And so it’s about the Siegel family, Jackie Siegel, and they’re billionaires, they’re white, they’re building the biggest house in America, which is in Orlando. And I was very judgmental when I saw the documentary about them. And when Stephen Schwartz was like, “This is your show. This is the show I’ve been wanting to write for you,” I thought, I’m not doing this show. And it started really delving into the why and how easy it is for us as an audience to judge people.
And then what if we were given a billion dollars, how would we act? Would we be perfect? Would we give all of our money away to the homeless? How would we be? And then how do we handle life in front of the camera? How do we handle true loss? No matter how rich or poor you are when you have true loss in your life? And they do.
The documentary ends when something big happens in their life, which we go into. How do you live your life in front of the camera that you asked for? ‘m going to put everything out there, and then do you really want to do this part too? So I think it just begs a question of a lot of us, how we would be, and also secretly, a lot of us do want to live that life, and then what comes with it? So it’s a cautionary tale, an American cautionary tale. It’s very different.
It does reunite Stephen Schwartz and I, but it is not Wicked. And a lot of people, they might be disappointed if they come and they think they’re going to hear that kind of a score. It’s not that. It’s something else that he does as well too. And I’m really excited for the world to see it. It’s my baby, I’ve been working on it for a long time, and I think anybody who does a new Broadway show are some of the bravest people I know.
I look at Idina Menzel, she’s just closed her show Redwood. I look at BOOP!, Smash, Death Becomes Her, which I helped develop. All these shows, they’re brave. They’ve never been done. It’s not easy. I’m not saying it’s easy to do Sunset Blvd. or Gypsy or any of those. Those are amazing to see and witness.
Especially with the performance of Nicole [Scherzinger] in Sunset. But to me, it’s a really brave to put in brand-spanking new piece on the bright white way and just give it your all swing. See what happens.
It seems very timely too, which is maybe not something you could have predicted when you were working on it with Steven.
No, especially, it doesn’t matter how you vote or which side of the line you’re on. I’m not a political person. I’m not going to go there. I mean, anybody who wants to guess what I believe they can figure it out. But I think it is more relevant than it’s ever been.
Whether it’s something fun like adopting pets, or otherwise, it’s about the idea of empathy.
You said it. I mean, our society, in my opinion, is the first to pounce, destroy, and leave them for dead. I oftentimes feel like, Hey, even though that person was naughty, crazy bad, or not acting how I would act, the why of it, and maybe less judgmental, God’s going to work all that out, or however you believe it. For me, God’s going to take care of it. It’s not my job to induce karma and hate. Everybody spews so much hate these days. You can’t even have a conversation. And I feel like, golly, can we approach each other with more grace?
There’s a friend of mine, there’s no reason we’re friends. We disagree on everything. But I learn from her, and I think she learns from me. And we laugh about our differences. Like I said, if we could approach things with more empathy and grace. There was an incident recently in the world of Broadway and everybody’s pouncing on someone. I don’t like what they did, I don’t agree with they did. But I’m wondering why instead of [thinking] kill, kill, kill — I can’t be a part of that. Right? [Chenoweth was seemingly referring Patti Lupone, who recently apologized for comments she made about Audra MacDonald and Kecia Lewis in a New Yorker interview.]
As an actor, I wonder if your desire to understand disagreeable behavior is a similar process to understanding a character you’re playing.
That’s what I had to ask myself. I had to finally decide. I actually like Jackie Siegel a lot. I’ve gotten to know her, but I know the ins and outs of her now. I had to ask myself, “How do I make this character likable?” Then I have to release that and say, “No, I just have to tell her story.” And I’m not doing an imitation. I’m just presenting my little bird’s eye view of who she is and why she does the things she does.
Are you still in contact with Jackie?
Oh yes. I love her. She just lost her husband and then two days later lost her sister. She would give you, honestly, the shirt off your back. She is one of the most gracious people and only wants everyone to be happy. And some people would mistake that for “Pollyanna.” She is a very smart lady. She worked at IBM and had a unhealthy, very bad first marriage and fell in love with an older man. Yes, she did. And now she’s lost him and she’s lost her sister, and she has another loss, her daughter. I just think it’s easy for us to judge, but we really don’t know.
Loss is just one of those, unfortunately, one of those great equalizers.
And none of us are getting away from it. It’s death and taxes.
To end on a more upbeat note, what are some of your everyday essentials that you never leave home without?
OK, I’m definitely a Nivea lip balm girl — I’m not being paid! I even gave them away in my wedding gift bag. I have it on right now.
I’m also still a hand sanitizer girl. It’s blue and it’s by [EO], it smells so good. Obsessed!
I like Jo Malone hand cream. That’s a splurge. Those are three things I have to have. And Tic-Tacs!
Jo Malone Vitamin E Nourishing Hand Cream Treatment