Artist:Anthony Roberts and Company
Song:Step to the Rear
Album:Celebrate Broadway Vol. 2: You Gotta Have a Gimmick
Actor Tony Roberts is best known for appearing in several Woody Allen films, especially Annie Hall. But he was called Anthony Roberts when he was Tony nominated for the 1967 musical How Now, Dow Jones. Step to the Rear is the best known song from this show. Roberts was born Oct. 22, 1939 in New York City. His father was CBS radio announcer Ken Roberts. Roberts attended Manhattan's High School of Music and Art and Northwestern University. After graduating, he returned to New York and made his Broadway debut in 1962. Roberts was on the daytime soap The Edge of Night and and on Broadway in Barefoot in the Park and Don't Drink the Water. But How Now, Dow Jones was his first musical. Obviously How Now, Dow Jones was supposed to do for Wall Street what How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying did for Madison Avenue. But it wasn't as memorable. There was never a How Now, Dow Jones movie and it's only been revived on Broadway once. The show was written by Elmer Bernstein. The songs were written by Carolyn Leigh and Max Shulman. Bernstein is best known for composing music for films. How Now Dow Jones is one of two musicals he has written. Along with Roberts, the show's stars were Marilyn Mason and Brenda Vaccaro. The show ran from Dec. 1967 to June 1968. Step to the Rear is the only memorable song from the show. It was an easy listening hit for Marilyn Maye and has been adapted as the University of South Carolina fight song. How Now, Dow Jones was nominated for a Tony and so was Roberts and the rest of the cast. The original cast album is available as a digital download. But you can get Step to the Rear on this various artists CD that was part of a series RCA released in the 90s. How Now Dow Jones was revived in 2009 mostly because it was thought to be forgotten. The turning point for Roberts was when he appeared in Woody Allen's Broadway play Play It Again Sam. He appeared in several Allen films and has had a long career mostly in films. He hasn't appeared in anything since 2017 so he may be retired. Here's Anthony Roberts and Company performing Step to the Rear on the 1968 Tony Awards broadcast.
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