The Last Act of Lilka Kadison

On holiday, must do theatre!
Tonight I got my head-in-the-way seat to see Lookingglass Theatre's "The Last Act of Lilka Kadison", a story about an old Jewish woman in America dealing quite literally with the ghosts of the past as she nears death. Naturally this involves facing WW2. Mix in a Pakistani health care worker with musical aspirations and...well, you can barely see the stage for all the cosy, liberal tears in your eyes.
Of the four strong cast only Usman Ally (from TV's 'Damages') was a little too 'theatrical'. Nora Fiffer as young Lilka was fine, if not outstanding. Instead the main acting kudos were divided fairly equally between Marilyn Dodds Frank, playing a sly old Lilka with a constant wink to the audience, and Chance Bone as Lilka's early love interest and upbeat mensch.
It was all too sentimental for its own good, but entertaining nonetheless, and nicely produced. The one fly in the ointment came at the end as the Ark of the Covenant was rolled out. It was not Brechtian distance that was being invoked when it hit a door very noticeably, shattering the suspension of disbelief the show had up to then carefully nourished. A small glitch, but an unfortunate one.
All in all though, a nice evening's serving of chicken soup, even if the main ingredient was schmaltz.