Tales of the City

This story has legs! Originally conceived as a newspaper serial, Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City morphed into a series of novels, followed by a run of television adaptations that eventually were released on VHS and now DVD (see reviews of More Tales of the City [VL-11/98] and Further Tales of the City [VL Online-11/99]). Acorn's three-disc set takes viewers back to the beginning when Cleveland-born naïf Mary Ann Singleton, who comes of age in '70s San Francisco, takes up residence in a boarding house on Barbary Lane, presided over by the mysterious Anna Madrigal. Tales of the City features a cast of weed-smoking, free-loving, coke-snorting young people, gay and straight, all searching for love and a sense of identity, which not only made it controversial in its day (1993) but a forerunner to later hits such as Queer as Folk. Bonus features on these beautifully transferred discs include wonderful audio commentary by Maupin, director Alastair Reid, and principal actresses Olympia Dukakis, Laura Linney, and Barbara Garrick; behind-the-scenes and rehearsal footage; and author and cast biographies. Highly recommended. Editor's Choice. (J. Reed)