  We shall give an elementary and rigorous proof of the Thomae formula for
${\bf Z}_N$ curves which was discovered by Bershadsky and Radul. Instead of
using the determinant of the Laplacian we use the traditional variational
method which goes back to Riemann, Thomae, Fuchs. In the proof we made explicit
the algebraic expression of the chiral Szeg\"{o} kernels and proves the
vanishing of zero values of derivatives of theta functions with ${\bf Z}_N$
invariant $1/2N$ characteristics.
