The music video of “Somewhere” was released by Columbia Records to promote Barbra Streisand's The Broadway Album. “Somewhere” was Barbra's third official music video in the age of cable video channels MTV and VH-1. The song is from the Broadway show West Side Story.
Producer Cindy Chvatal told biographer Randall Riese that Friedkin and Streisand met in person to discuss concepts for the music video. Chvatal said Barbra wanted the video “to show people blowing each other up. Mushroom clouds. And she wanted riots in South Africa. Her point of view on how the video should be was, ‘If you don't protect [the earth], then it's going to go away.’”
Although Friedkin was known for his violent movies (The Night They Raided Minsky's, The French Connection, The Exorcist) he disagreed with Streisand on the concept. Instead, he saw the video beginning in space, with scenes of European immigrants and African children. As Streisand performs the song in the Apollo Theater, Friedkin shows an audience watching her comprised of different creeds, older and younger, and multi-racial people ... who need people.
Friedkin and Streisand filmed the video October 29, 1985 before about one hundred extras whose day began at 7 a.m. Even though she was lip-syncing, Streisand sang live in the theatre to the pre-recorded track. Cindy Chvatal told the Chicago Tribune that Streisand appeared relaxed and traveled only with an “entourage”' of son Jason and a hairdresser/makeup artist. Filming was completed about 2 a.m. Wednesday.
During the Apollo Theatre shoot, Friedkin and Streisand sat in the audience and were filmed discussing The Broadway Album. That footage was utilized in the HBO special Putting It Together: The Making of The Broadway Album, later released on home video. The “Somewhere” video was included on that show.
During the filming of the video, after the extras had been sent home, Streisand sang live to the audio track for her close-ups. Peter Afterman was there (he coordinated various business matters for the Guber-Peters Company for The Broadway Album). He told biographer Karen Swenson: “Because she didn't want to sing to a bunch of empty seats, [CBS music video coordinator] Jeanne Mattiussi, myself, (producers) Glenn Goodwin and Cindy Chvatal were treated to what I considered to be a private concert of that one song. We were all seated in the second row and Barbra sang right to us ... when I sat in that theater, the first time she started to sing I got chills. My eyes teared up a little bit because I was so blown out. The impact of each performance was amazing. I turned to the others and we all exchanged knowing glances. She really, really moved us.”
Friedkin added stock footage of the universe to open the video and give it “a glimpse of infinity” (as the Bergmans wrote in their liner notes for the album); The helicopter footage of Los Angeles that followed the galaxy footage was lifted from Friedkin's 1985 cop thriller, To Live and Die in L.A. And the theater skylight footage was of the Ritz Theatre in New Jersey.
Columbia Records and its president Walter Yetnikoff may have ruffled some feathers over at MTV when they tried to get Streisand's video played (despite the fact that MTV really appealed to rock, heavy metal, and pop fans.) “Barbra Streisand tortured me on a daily basis,” Jeanne Mattiussi, an executive and music video promoter at Columbia, said. “She used to call at the crack of dawn. She was intent that she belonged on MTV. The directive to get her ‘Somewhere’ video payed came from the top [of Columbia], from Walter Yetnikoff and Al Teller.”
Streisand donated all proceeds from the single of “Somewhere” to the PRO-Peace organization and to the American Foundation for AIDS research.
Over twenty-five years later, Streisand lent her original vocal to a duet with eleven-year-old Jackie Evancho. The song appeared on Evancho's debut album, Dream With Me, produced by David Foster. A few months after the album was released, the two appeared in a television special — Dream With Me In Concert. Evancho sang “Somewhere” on the special, with Streisand appearing on a big screen behind her. Streisand's footage was from the original “Somewhere” music video, and fans can spot several outtakes which were not used in the 1985 music video!
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