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Exclusive: Natasha Hodgson & Jak Malone Cuddle up with Their Broadway Pets, Sydney & Dracula
Jul 16, 2025
Broadway stars- they're just like us! When some of our favorite performers aren't onstage, they're at home, cuddling up with their beloved pets. In this edition of Broadway Pets, watch as Operation Mincemeat castmates Natasha Hodgson and Jak Malone introduce their playful pups, Sydney and Dracula!
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0:00
Hello! So my name is Natasha Hodgson
0:05
I'm Jack Malone. And these are our beautiful babies. This is my baby, Sydney
0:09
And this is Dracula, my Italian greyhound, who's two. Yes, and this is Sid. He is also two and he is a labradoodle
0:26
Oh, a romantic story. woman meets dog we got Sidney when he was just
0:32
a little baby from a beach town in the UK and he
0:38
it was a situation where you go and you play with the puppies and you see which one
0:42
and the owners kind of decide it was quite like it was basically an audition
0:46
I forgot that you did that you have to go and play with the dogs and you're very aware being like am I being a good dog
0:51
yeah look at me stroke these animals and I just clicked with this little guy
0:55
he was absolute chaos and I was just like Yes, yes, please. My partner, Jasmine, went to pick Drax up
1:03
I couldn't go because I was too hungover. So I didn't... It's not as you mean to go on
1:07
Truly, I didn't go and get him. And they went, they drove, they picked him up
1:12
and then they brought him home. And my first thought upon seeing him was
1:17
he's too small to have in my house. I was like... It was like someone handed me a guinea pig I was like he going to get trapped behind the sofa somebody gonna drop a heavy book on him we cannot have this tiny defenseless little thing in our home
1:32
And now he's a huge piece. And now he's gigantic! Aren't you
1:36
Go on then, jump down, silly boy. So I'm very, very fortunate that my partner
1:40
is here with me, she came over to have this adventure with me, and
1:44
she's really good at all the heavy lifting dog-wise. She gets him up, she takes him for a wee
1:48
she takes him for a walk, because the show is so exhausting and so demanding
1:53
I'm very fortunate that I don't really have to do anything. I just get all the cuddles when he gets home
1:59
He just sits on me and obsesses over me, and I get to have all that stuff, which is really, really nice
2:04
Yeah, my situation is similar. Most of the time, my boyfriend takes care of him
2:07
but he's not always around. So, yeah, the last couple of weeks, I've been a solo dog parent
2:12
And let me tell you, as Jack says, our schedule is very, very punishing
2:17
And so, yeah, on a two-show day, we'll run out of the park, and then we'll drop him back off at the flat
2:22
We'll go and do our first show of the day. I will come back to the house
2:26
feed him, apologize for abandoning him and then have a little cuddle and then go out and do the second show
2:31
Come back and then, yeah, a final run around in the night streets of New York
2:37
Location unspecified. You're not going to attack me, people. So, yeah, it's a lot of effort
2:41
but you know what? Look at him. Look at the way he's gazing pointlessly at me
2:48
Who could want more? We really lucky in that the sort of community around our show Operation Mincemeat is like this super artistic super creative And only this week we were given cross done by an amazing person who gave us a cross of this face Harry and this little face
3:06
And so I think, yeah, we feel they don't even know it, but they're the luckiest dogs in the whole world
3:10
Fan art of the dogs is very much encouraged. Oh, it's so good. Yeah, very much so. We'd rather..
3:14
Always displayed. We are unlikely to display our own faces. however these faces
3:20
straight on the wedding invitation what's the hardest part about being a pet parent and a Broadway performer
3:26
I think because our show is super physical having to do like
3:32
and this job is also physical they're like two physical jobs together
3:36
I think that's hard like getting up in the morning and being like he has needs
3:42
he has needs and I must go and deliver them we have to go run around the park
3:47
and also then being like, and the theatre has needs. We have to go run around the theatre
3:52
But we know that going in. For me, this is a real non-problem
3:56
But I get home so late from doing the show and he's exhausted
4:00
He's had a whole doggy day and it's time for him to go to bed
4:05
and I really, really try and keep him up, keep him awake, keep him with me
4:09
because I haven't seen him in hours. I want to sit and I want to cuddle him and he just wants to get in bed, don't you
4:15
Hey? I think also you say lucky you chosen well in that your dog is little enough to fly Yeah I mean Sydney obviously did not swim here he also flew flew over with us um but he had to go in the hold in the in the big plane in the in the bottom of it which was for us incredibly scary and for him
4:31
not to bother at all we were like he's gonna be traumatized it's gonna take weeks to get back to
4:35
how he was and he came in through the door of the flat and was like there's my food there's my bed
4:39
i'll see you in the morning so it is important to remember that they are not actually people yeah
4:44
Even though we do, in our hearts, believe them to be people. You're people, aren't you, sweetie? Yeah
4:50
Because he bites Drax's face. I think Drax would be terrific in O'Mary
4:56
Oh, yeah. He's the right level of, like, diva. Is he Mary
5:02
Yeah, yeah, as Mary. Because, yeah, he's diva. He's, you know, as soon as he's in the room
5:08
you can't take your eyes off him. And I think that's a quality that any Mary Todd Lincoln has to have
5:14
and yeah he's just magnificent and I think that really lends itself to the role
5:19
I think similarly with Sidney Audrey too he's trying to eat Dracula right now
5:27
I think Madeline Ashton in Death Becomes Her partially because of the beautiful flowing locks
5:33
but also he too is like he's a bit of a diva he likes what he likes
5:37
and he kind of wants to be the centre of attention and he will literally consume anyone who gets in his way
5:43
And he's got the vocal range, which is a little known fact about Sydney
#Dogs
#Broadway & Musical Theater