Kelly Bishop writing a memoir--doesn't that sound exciting? The stories she must have! The gossip! The attitude!
Nah. The Third Gilmore Girl is a short, polite, mildly interesting book. She covers A Chorus Line and The Gilmore Girls fairly comprehensively, but that's really all she focuses on workwise. She spends barely a page on Bunheads! Many gigs go by with barely a mention.
Here are my takeaways: More of A Chorus Line is based on Bishop's life than I realized. She loved being on The Gilmore Girls and was terribly sad when Edward Herrman died. She's very close with Priscilla Lopez. Throughout her life she has had a fiery desire to work, and she only wants money she earns herself. Her husband was ill for much of their marriage and they were often separated due to her work, but they were very happy together.
I love autobiographies that provide a 3D sense of the writer. I love feeling that you've almost hung out together. (See, for example, Chita Rivera's autobiography.) To the teeny tiny extent that The Third Girlmore Girl gives a sense of hanging out with Bishop, it is clear that she'd rather be somewhere else.
Wendy Caster
