"Somewhere" is a duet from act 2, scene 2 of the 1957 Broadway musical West Side Story, with music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, in his Broadway debut. In Arthur Laurents's original book the scene was a ballet. Bernstein had written the melody years earlier, but Jerome Robbins did not want a singer to distract from the dance, so the song was sung off-stage and the company reprises it later. In the original production Reri Grist sang it as Consuelo, and as Tony dies, Maria sings its first lines. The recording was released in late 1957 on the Original Broadway Cast album.
The 1961 film has Tony sing it to Maria, with the voices dubbed by Marni Nixon and Jim Bryant. Bernstein later used the melody in his 1961 Symphonic Dances from West Side Story, and Alex Ross and Edward Barnes note melodic resemblances to the slow movement of Beethoven's Emperor Concerto, Strauss's Burleske and Swan Lake. Notable later versions include P. J. Proby's 1964 recording, which reached number six in the UK, Barbra Streisand's 1985 single and Phil Collins's 1996 version.
