“Putting It Together”: The Making Of The Broadway Album (1986)
Barbra Streisand's first television special on HBO debuted in 1986. The special—which combined an interview with director William Friedkin with documentary footage of Barbra in the recording studio making The Broadway Album—was only 40 minutes long.
Putting It Together: The Making of The Broadway Album was a slight, but welcomed addition to Streisand’s collection of television specials.
With Friedkin and Streisand sitting in theater seats (lovingly photographed by Andrzei Bartowiak) and talking about the album, the special intercut documentary footage of Barbra and her collaborators Peter Matz, Sydney Pollack, David Geffen, Ken Sylk, Stephen Sondheim, and boyfriend Richard Baskin.
Streisand fans were treated to a career-length montage of video clips in the opening song, “Something’s Coming”. It was the first time fans got a glimpse of The Belle of 14th Street and Other Musical Instruments which did not debut (officially) on home video until 2005!
Included was the complete Friedkin-directed music video of “Somewhere,” which was filmed at the Apollo Theater in Harlem.
The special is also notable for the alternate, jazzy version of “Can’t Help Lovin’ That Man of Mine,” although it is only excerpted on screen.
Additional lines delivered by the “voices” (which were eventually whittled down on the final track) can be heard during the filming of “Putting It Together.”
Putting It Together: The Making of The Broadway Album debuted on VHS tape and Laserdisc in 1986 and was finally released on DVD in 2009 as part of a 3-DVD set.
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