Gray's Anatomy

November 22, 1993
Anyone who can imagine monologuist Gray's voice--ironic, neurotic, bemused by the world--will enjoy this new performance piece. In previous monologues, such as Swimming to Cambodia , Gray raided his own life, but this digs deeper, exploring his terror and tactics after finding he has a serious eye problem. He careens from a superconfident doctor who calls him ``Gary Spalding'' to reminiscences of his Christian Science boyhood to his ``existential realist'' therapist. Then the wildness begins. A shabbily dressed Spalding, mistaken for a bum, is schlepped out to Williamsburg by some Hasidic Jews to clean their synagogue. Seeking alternative cures, he goes to a Minnesota sweat lodge to conjure up his ancestors--and remembers that his ancestors killed Indians. He visits folk healers, notably a New Jersey man whose colorful house is like ``Howard Finster's dream,'' and the ``Elvis Presley of psychic surgeons,'' a Filipino who does rapid-fire groping in patients' innards. There's a happy ending: a successful operation and Gray's marriage to long-time helpmate Renee. Confronting corporeal and spiritual anxiety, Gray is always entertaining, and sometimes hilarious.