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27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Love, Romance & Mystery at 28 Barbary Lane, March 26, 2003
Thanks to writer Armistead Maupin, 28 Barbary Lane has become one of the most famous addresses in San Francisco; but it is fictitious. The address is the location of an apartment building created by Maupin when he began writing a fictitious weekly serial called "Tales of the City" for a local San Francisco Newspaper called the "San Francisco Chronicle" in 1976. After 13 years of weekly installments, Maupin converted them into a collection of six books. The first book, named "Tales of the City", was turned into a 6-hour TV miniseries by the BBC in 1993. When it aired on PBS in the U.S. in 1994, it caused quite a controversy not only for its honest depiction of gay characters, but also for showing men kissing one another and frequent drug use. The story's main character is the eccentric owner/landlady of the apartment building, Mrs. Anna Madrigal, played by the very talented Olympia Dukakis. Mrs. Madrigal is a free spirit choosing to live life to its fullest, including the growing of marijuana that she shares freely with her residents. Her residents are also a very interesting set of people including Mona Ramsey (Chloe Webb), Michael 'Mouse' Tolliver (Marcus D'Amico), Mary Ann Singleton (Laura Linney), Brian Hawkins (Paul Gross) and Norman Williams (Stanley DeSantis).Taking place in the mid-1970's, the story begins with Mary Ann deciding to remain and move to San Francisco while visiting from the Midwest. She finds an advertisement for an available apartment at 28 Barbary Lane. She goes there, meets Mrs. Madrigal and immediately moves in. Mary Ann then finds a job as a secretary for the very wealthy Edgar Warfield Halcyon (Donald Moffat), who also employs his son-in-law, Beauchamp Talbot Day (Thomas Gibson). Beauchamp's marriage to Edgar's daughter, Deirdre Denise 'DeDe' Ligon Halcyon Day (Barbara Garrick), is rather dysfunctional with both engaging in extramarital activities. Mona also works for Edgar Halycon, but gets into trouble with her outspoken views. Mona and Michael, who is gay, become very good friends and spend a lot time with each other. Over the course of the story, ties between many of the residents of 28 Barbary Lane and their common acquaintances (but not necessarily known) are shown. One of the common acquaintances is Dr. Jon Philip Fielding (Bill Campbell), who is De De's gynecologist, but also knows both Beauchamp and Michael. Other well-known actors played minor roles in the miniseries including Ian McKellan (known more as Gandalf in the "Lord of the Rings" film trilogy), McLean Stevenson (known more as the bumbling C.O. Lt. Colonel Henry Blake in the 1972 TV series "M*A*S*H"), Rod Steiger (known for many roles including Komarovsky in the 1965 film "Dr. Zhivago"), Swoosie Kurtz (played in the 1988 film "Dangerous Liaisons") and Janeane Garofalo (played in the 1997 film "Romy and Michele's High School Reunion"). Armistead Maupin also makes a brief cameo appearance as a writer in a window. Overall, "Tales of the City" was very well done by the BBC and I rate it with 5 out of 5 stars. Sequels to the series were made later, but not all of the original actors reprised their roles to the disappointment of many fans. The two actors most commonly missed in the later sequels are Chloe Webb and Marcus D'Amico, whose roles as Mona Ramsey and Michael Tolliver were replaced by Nina Siemaszko and Paul Hopkins respectively. Admittedly, the chemistry that existed between Mona and Michael with the original actors in "Tales of the City" did not come across as effectively with their replacements in the sequels. Of the two miniseries sequels, the first ("More Tales of the City") is better than the second ("Further Tales of the City"). Each is based on the second and third of Maupin's books.
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DVD ~ Olympia Dukakis
DVD ~ Olympia Dukakis
by Armistead Maupin
by Armistead Maupin
by Armistead Maupin
on 
