Watch Nureyev on PBS

So even though I railed last week against my local PBS affiliate for not airing Mozart Dances, KCET will be airing this intriguing documentary about Rudolf Nureyev, entitled Nureyev: The Russian Years, right on time: Wednesday August 29 at 9pm. According to the program notes, the documentary will cover the time leading up to his defection from the Soviet Union, and time immediately following - the period when Nureyev gained much of his initial celebrity. Most of the documentaries about Nureyev tend to focus on his later years with Margot Fonteyn, but this one promises to be an in-depth look at his earlier period.

So figure out when it will air in your area, make sure to watch it, and make sure to let your PBS station know that you watched it!

This article in the Los Angeles Times explains more:

Rudolf Nureyev lied about his life so often, to so many people, that any responsible biographer or documentarian must virtually cross-examine every living source to separate his extravagant fictions from bottom-line certainties. Nureyev liked to say that when he was a child, his father beat him, but he also said that this same abusive parent bought him an accordion -- both assertions untrue and only the earliest deceptions in his complex and often contradictory life story.

Read the full story here.

The article also discusses an upcoming Nureyev biography by Julie Kavanaugh, which looks to be full of all sorts of sex and intrigue. Hm...