By Joe Contreras< Latin Life Denver Media (see video trailer below)

There’s a boy hiding in the hallway, listening, as his father talks to a group of fellow Holocaust survivors, wondering, debating if he should address a group of people at the local synagogue and tell his story of living through capture, imprisonment and escape five different times from Nazi concentration camps during the German occupation during World War II.

The story is told by Kenneth Tigar who plays an 80 year-old Abraham Soloman Jakubowicz or better known by his friends as Eddie Jaku. Tigar, who originated the role of Eddie Jaku at its world premiere has received best actor awards from the Berkshire Theatre Critics Association and Broadway World. His accolades are many with several film and TV credits. He has a BA and PhD in German Literature from Harvard University. His masterful performance as Eddie Jaku is truly something to marvel. You are made to feel you are with the real Eddie Jaku as he tells his story. Tigar’s one man performance is outstanding.

Eddie tells the group of being a young boy when it all started. He was an aspiring student in Germany, with a bright future. But then, just like that, he was expelled for being Jewish. His father did not give up on his son’s education. He changed his son’s name and sent him to another school in some distant country with other relatives. Eddie would later relate how his education saved his life through it all.

He tells them of the horrors inflicted upon the Jews by the German soldiers for no other reason than they were Jewish, of being shot in the mouth if they moved to slow, and of many other atrocities. “Hitler needed an enemy to secure and consolidate his power and the Jews were his excuse” he tells them.

He tells them of his escapes from the Nazis, one time prying the floor boards off the train headed to a concentration camp. “We crawled underneath the train car and eventually let go praying there was nothing underneath the carriage that would rip us apart”. He would escape four more times.

So how does a person, like Eddie, go from being a Holocaust survivor, living through what he calls “My hell on Earth, referring to the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland, witnessing the inhumanity of mankind, go from such horrific experiences to becoming the “Happiest Man on Earth”? What happened? What influence did his son have on his decision to tell his life’s story? How does one choose to see the good side of the human spirit and the lessons of choosing hope and a good life, not just for himself but for everyone? That is what makes”The Happiest Man on Earth” a compelling and important theatrical experience.

Kenneth Tigar, playing Eddie Jaku strolls down the stairs leading into the Singleton Theatre at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, talking to audience members along the way. He converses with some of them, making friends as he makes his way up to the stage. He wants to be everyone’s friend and wants the audience to befriend him as well. “We are all family” he would later tell the audience.

Eddie Jaku, lived to be 101 years old. He was married to his wife Flore for 75 years. After being rescued by Allied soldiers he moved to Australia where he lived for 60 years . He had two sons, four grandchildren and five great grandchildren. Eddie died peacefully in October of 2021

The Happiest Man On Earth directed by Mark St. German and based on the Memoir by Eddie Jaku plays the Singleton Theater through November 2, 2025.

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