Fermat's Last Tango, the American Musical That Dares to Make Math Sing, Gets European Staging
By Kenneth Jones
22 Oct 2003
Fermat's Last Tango, the musical by husband and wife team Joanne Sydney Lessner and Joshua Rosenblum, which received its Off-Broadway premiere at The York Theatre Company in November 2000, will get its European premiere at Teatro da Trindade in Lisbon, Portugal, Jan. 8, 2004.
Teatro da Trindade, Lisbon's oldest theatre, will also sponsor a preliminary tour of university towns in Portugal, beginning in Porto on Nov. 13, 2003, the writers said.
The production, which will be performed in Portuguese under the title O Último Tango de Fermat, features a multimedia presentation as part of the production. Teatro da Trindade's artistic director, Carlos Fragateiro, is also involved in the planning of other European productions of the show, both in English and translated into other European languages.
Executive producer Catarina Gonçalves said in a statement: "I would love for the Portuguese version travel to New York, to be enjoyed by the city's Portuguese community. César Viana has given a superb translation."
The York Theatre Company production of Fermat's Last Tango is available on CD from Original Cast Records. A DVD and video of the production are also available through the Clay Mathematics Institute (www.claymath.org). The DVD has been screened at conferences and universities all over the world, from Wellington, New Zealand to Princeton, New Jersey.
The musical was inspired by the true story of Andrew Wiles, the Princeton professor who proved "Fermat's Last Theorem," the 350-year-old problem long considered the "Holy Grail" of mathematics. The musical takes a whimsical, irreverent look at the people behind the math. According to the creators, "The sneering, foppish Fermat returns from the AfterMath (where dead mathematicians go, of course) to torment the professor in his quest for a proof. Along the way, Pythagoras, Newton, Euclid and Gauss join in the catchy melodies, which range from operetta to blues to the tango of the title."
The original cast of Fermat's Last Tango featured Gilles Chiasson, Edwardyne Cowan, Mitchell Kantor, Jonathan Rabb, Chris Thompson, Christianne Tisdale, and Carrie Wilshusen. The show was directed by Mel Marvin, with musical direction by Milton Granger, choreography by Janet Watson, lighting design by John Michael Deegan, costumes by Lynn Bowling and sets by James Morgan.
Lessner and Rosenblum have been working on a musical version of the book, "Einstein's Dreams."
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