Kelly Bishop (Emily Gilmore on Gilmore Girls) got her big break in the Broadway production A Chorus Line in the 1970s - she even won the 1976 Tony Award as “Best Supporting or Featured Actress (Musical)” for her role.

A little digging by one of the readers of this site produced a video of Kelly Bishop singing “At the Ballet”, one of her numbers from A Chorus Line. I thought you’d enjoy seeing it!

Thanks Sara!

Kelly Bishop (Emily Gilmore on Gilmore Girls) guest starred late in 2008 on Law & Order: SVU in the episode “Persona”, as a defense attorney. Kelly made another guest appearance on the series in the episode “Zebras”, which aired on June 2nd.

“Zebras” was the season finale of Law & Order: SVU. In the episode, Kelly plays Julia Zimmer, a lawyer representing a clearly paranoid, possibly mentally ill, man named Peter Harrison. It’s a good role for Kelly, with her character re-appearing throughout the episode as the detectives try to figure out if Harrison is their guy. It gets quite… dramatic… for her character!

I could only find part of the episode online, but here are 3 videos from the episode. Kelly appears at around 20 seconds in the first video, then again throughout:

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Kelly Bishop (Emily Gilmore on Gilmore Girls) will be guest starring in an upcoming episode of Army Wives on Lifetime.

Season 3 of Army Wives begins on June 7th, with a whole series of big guest stars lined up. Kelly Bishop will appear in an August or September episode of Army Wives. Kelly’s character will be the widow of a late senator, in town to attend a building-naming ceremony. However, this widow has more to her than what you see on the surface… “Claudia Joy and Denise come to realize the not-so-weeping widow’s secret — that she’s a cougar!”

For those of you who don’t know what a “cougar” is in this context, it’s an older woman who likes to date much younger men. As EW writer Matt Mitovich exclaims, “Oh, what would Lorelai say”!

Image: TheWB.com ; Thanks Sylvia!

Kelly Bishop (Emily Gilmore on Gilmore Girls) will be at the Luna Stage for one night only to perform A Song at Twilight.

On June 6th at 8pm, Kelly Bishop joins Maryann Punkett, Jake Robards and Paxton Whitehead for a staged reading of one of Noel Coward’s final plays, A Song at Twilight. The play depicts an elderly writer confronted by his former mistress with the facts about his past life - facts he’d prefer to forget.

You can buy tickets for the event here.

Image: Newscom ; Via Broadway World

It’s time for the Fall upfronts, with networks previewing their new pilots for the eager press. Among those, Lauren Graham’s new ABC comedy pilot, The Bridget Show, will be shown and is listed as “promising”. Probably we’ll hear a lot more about this screening during the week!

You can also VOTE FOR LAUREN in the 2009 Theater Fans’ Choice Awards at Broadway.com. Guys and Dolls is up in a number of categories, but Lauren is up only for “Best Leading Actress in a Musical”. Lauren is currently in 5th place, with Alice Ripley leading the votes.

Also for fan voting, you can Nominate your favorites in the Audience Awards. Guys and Dolls is not up for one of these, though Kelly Bishop (Emily Gilmore) play, Becky Shaw, is up for votes!

Thanks Jen & Michael & Regis! ; Image: Newscom

Kelly Bishop (Emily Gilmore on Gilmore Girls) earned a 1976 Tony Award for “Best Supporting or Featured Actress (Musical)” for her role as Sheila in the Broadway production of A Chorus Line. A new documentary, Every Little Step, is being released this April about A Chorus Line.

Every Little Step was produced and directed by James D. Stern and Adam Del Deo. It follows the process of casting the 2006 Broadway revival, as well as exploring the history of the musical. A Chorus Line follows seventeen Broadway dancers auditioning for spots on a chorus line, providing a glimpse into the personalities of the performers and the choreographer during the audition process. It’s only fitting, then, that the documentary do the same thing - going behind-the-scenes of a musical that essentially is about the same process.

The documentary will have a limited release in the US starting on April 17, 2009. I’m not sure if Kelly Bishop was interviewed for the DVD or not, but it’s an interesting look at a production that helped make her famous!

Hollywood Outbreak recently interviewed Kelly Bishop about being a part of Broadway history and her role on A Chorus Line (hear mp3 here). Kelly says talks about being a part of a project that can change lives, of how great it was to take part in the “earth shaking” production.

“Every Little Step” Trailer:

And here’s a photo from the 1975/1976 production of A Chorus Line that I *think* has Kelly Bishop to the back.

Images: TheWB.com / Photo taken by Martha Swope, 1975 ©, Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

Happy happy birthday to Kelly Bishop (Emily Gilmore on Gilmore Girls) who today celebrates her 65th birthday! What a milestone!

Kelly Bishop is currently starring in the Broadway show Becky Shaw, which was so successful that the show was extended until March 15th! If you are in New York, I hope you can check it out, in addition to Lauren Graham’s Guys and Dolls of course!

Photo by RD/Leon/Retna Ltd / Used with Permission of Second Stage Theatre Thanks Regis!

Kelly Bishop (Emily Gilmore on Gilmore Girls) stars in the Second Stage production of Gina Gionfriddo’s play, Becky Shaw, which will be running off Broadway until March 15th. In Becky Shaw, Kelly Bishop plays a widow with MS who is dating a much younger man (read more here).

Reviews called Kelly Bishop “devastatingly funny” in Becky Shaw and Kelly recently spoke with Broadway.com about the production. Kelly Bishop, who won a Tony Award for her role in A Chorus Line, is no stranger to theater or to playing strong women (hello, Emily Gilmore!). Just like with Gilmore Girls, Kelly Bishop’s role in Becky Shaw is described as “walking the line between outright mean and outright funny.”

Kelly Bishop says she was fascinated by Becky Shaw, drawn to the character and the play because they were a “little off,” with her character Susan “not terribly worried about being kind to people, and funny. I mean really, deeply funny.” Kelly says it’s a joy to play a character who is so “out there” and honest. That said, she admits the characters she’s drawn to are not people she’d be friends with!

“I like the nasty ones because I don’t particularly like women like that in real life, so in playing them I get to show them for what they really are. We all see them in the high-end department stores, and sometimes I think, ‘I can hardly wait to get my hands on you so I can play you!’”

Kelly Bishop talks about working on projects such as Gilmore Girls as a way not to lock herself into musical comedy.

“When Gilmore Girls came along, I remember looking at the size of the script and thinking, “What is this?” A sitcom script is a certain thickness, a drama is thicker, but that? There was so much dialogue and it was so funny, so much better than usual.”

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Kelly Bishop (Emily Gilmore on Gilmore Girls) and Emily Bergl (Chilton’s elite Francie Jarvis in Gilmore Girls) star in the Second Stage production of Gina Gionfriddo’s play, Becky Shaw, directed by Peter DuBois. The play had its opening night on Thursday, January 8th. Gilmore Girls co-stars Lauren Graham (Lorelai Gilmore) and Edward Herrmann (Edward Gilmore) were on hand to support Kelly Bishop on opening night.

In Becky Shaw, a newlywed couple fix up two romantically challenged friends. When the path to happiness goes astray, we must ask what we owe to the people we love as well as to the strangers who land in our way. Learn more about the play, which also stars David Wilson Barnes, Annie Parisse, and Thomas Sadoski, here.

In reviews of the production, Becky Shaw is called “perfect nourishment” for theatergoers looking for drama (AP) with Kelly Bishop as a “delight” in her role of a widow with MS dating a much younger man. Variety says the play is “blithely cynical and devastatingly funny”, with Emily Bergl’s portrayal of Suzanna as “endearingly strung-out” and Kelly Bishop’s Susan “could snap your spine with one basilisk look”. The New York Daily News says perhaps the play is “too clever”, but gives high praise to Kelly Bishop as “delectably funny” and “maternal as barbed wire.”

Becky Shaw will be running from now through to March 15th at Second Stage Theater, six weeks more than was originally scheduled. Tickets are $70 and may be purchased by phoning 212-246-4422 or 800-766-6048 or online at www.2ST.com

For more photos from the premiere of ‘Becky Shaw’… Read more

As previously mentioned, Kelly Bishop (Emily Gilmore on Gilmore Girls) stars in the Second Stage production of Gina Gionfriddo’s play, Becky Shaw, directed by Peter DuBois. The play began previews on December 16th, with opening night on Thursday, January 8th.

You’ll notice that Kelly Bishop is not the only Gilmore Girls star to appear in this play. Emily Bergl, who played Chilton’s elite Francie Jarvis in Gilmore Girls, also stars in this play. In fact, she’ll play the daughter of Kelly’s character!

In Becky Shaw, a newlywed couple fix up two romantically challenged friends. When the path to happiness goes astray, we must ask what we owe to the people we love as well as to the strangers who land in our way. It has been reviewed as quite a witty play.

Kelly Bishop has been cast as Susan in Becky Shaw, a woman with MS who hooks up with a man much younger than herself, and quite disreputable. Susan, a domineering woman, also has quite a dysfunctional relationship with her daughter Suzanna (Emily Bergl) in the play. Suzanna is keyed as over dramatic and emotional, while Kelly’s character is keyed as overbearing and funny as hell. You can see an early review of the play here.

Also starring in this production of Becky Shaw are David Wilson Barnes (who reprises his role as Max from the first production at the 2008 Humana Fiestival of New American Plays), Annie Parisse (who reprises her role as Becky Shaw from the first production), and Thomas Sadoski (as Andrew). Read more