BACKSTAGE PHOTOS

Pals Jesse Merlin and Jon Mullich.
 
They met when Jesse played the captain in Jon's Star Trek parody U.S.S. Pinafore.
 

 
Jon and "Lady Anne" Rachel Kanouse.
 
On the day the show was closing, Jon posted on Facebook:
 
With "Richard III" closing today, I can finally provide the solution to a deep mystery that has vexed the cast for months. Throughout rehearsals and the run of the show, I have cryptically maintained that there is only one actor in the cast that I have any respect for. But the identity of this person has remained a closely guarded secret...until now.
 
The one person in that cast that I respect is Rachel Kanouse, who plays Lady Anne in the show.
 
The reason is simple. In Act I Scene 2, the famous wooing scene between Richard and Anne, Ms. Kanouse spits in my face. And I don't mean that she distributes a little moisture in my direction: she hawks a genuine loogie in my eye every night.
 
The rest of the bastards in the cast are content with communicating their contempt for me behind my back; sometimes going to such measures as leaving anonymous hate notes at my makeup table or performing mocking pantomimes of my performance in the dressing room or lobby while I am safely ensconced onstage. But only Ms. Kanouse has the Macadamia Nuts to show her true disdain for me to my face. For that, she has my undying respect.

 
Jon and Glenn Simon.

 
Jon with a dog puppet sporting the same wine stain birthmark he wore as Richard III;
an opening night gift from Jon's dear friend Donna
 
He named the dog "George Stanley" after an offstage character who Richard repeatedly threatens to have beheaded, and whom Richmond expresses great concern about after Richard is finally killed.