The Gold Standard
June 27, 2006
By Michael Lazan

After seeing The Gold Standard, Daniel Roberts' emotional, somewhat absorbing play...it would be hard not to conclude that the playwright has been wronged by a devious, very attractive blond woman.

Olivia is the woman, a gorgeous working-class manipulatrix who uses her lissome charms to win the heart of John, a middlebrow Wall Street type who also writes. Utterly smitten and ready for marriage, John takes Olivia back to his college bar in Philadelphia. There he proudly introduces her to his friend Krego, a Korean writer, to whom Olivia also proves alluring....

Director Alex Lippard's cast is comfortable and focused. Amid frequent dramatic poses and glances, Sabine Singh is gorgeous, deliciously bitter, and exactly right as Olivia. Antony Hagopian is appropriately stiff and indignant as John. Yasu Suzuki is charismatic and energetic as Krego, though it's hard to understand him at times. Rounding out the group is Jordan Charney, charming as the bartender, and Alie Carey, sympathetic as the barmaid.