Review: MARIA WIRRIES Wows Crowd In Solo Feinstein's/54 Below Show

Maria Wirries is probably a very good actor. She has done Broadway and she has done a national tour of a Broadway production, so there is evidence to back up that Ms. Wirries is a good actor. However, there is a chance that her greatest success in her artistic life will not be spent playing characters created by a writer because no character written could be as interesting, as fascinating, as exciting as Maria Wirries herself. Besides, if her show Tuesday night at 54 Below is any indication, there is a spot waiting for Maria Wirries in the music industry because Maria Wirries is a rock star.

Looking at the event page for Ms. Wirries' eponymous outing at the Midtown Manhattan supper club, one is given a glance at a photo of a seemingly unassuming young woman and a description of what may or may not be a common night of cabaret crooning: both impressions would be absolutely false and the polar opposite of what really happened at 54 Below two days ago. Maria Wirries is one of the most exciting and authentic entertainers and people to have the good grace to share themself with a room full of people. Every moment of her hour-plus concert seemed to be informed by a quest to open herself up to the people in the audience and allow them a good, long, view of who she is, and what is more appealing than a person who is willing to be honest, who is willing to be open, who is willing to let you in? And Marie Wirries is as appealing as she is special.

From her opening notes of the Cher classic "Heart of Stone" the aura that Ms. Wirries brought onto the stage and into the room was one of benevolent humanity carried in on a powerful voice so unique and so beautiful that it is actually surprising. Many people have voices with which they were born or that they have trained to be pretty, but this is a sound that goes beyond just pretty, it is spectacular, but in the most natural and pure way. It's like the audible version of looking at the Grand Canyon or Niagra Falls or The Great Barrier Reef, and though that sounds like hyperbole, it isn't. Maria Wirries has a voice that belongs on the airwaves, whether it's radio, a podcast, some form of film, or the sound system at Madison Square Garden - it is just that glorious. And The Madison Square Garden thing is more than the voice, too, because watching Wirries live is like watching some fabulous star who has been at it for decades... but she hasn't. Maria Wirries is a young woman, relatively new to the world of show business, maybe even the world at large, maybe that's what makes her so special: no pretense, no falsehood. She is as she appears to be, which is fun, groovy, edgy, a kind of modern-day hippie with love for everyone and, extremely importantly, love for herself. Singing the songs of James Taylor, The Eagles, John Denver, and Looking Glass, Ms. Wirries is every bit the flower child, using other writers' words and lyrics to relate the experiences of her life, and like every good coffee-house entertainer, she leans into the all-important lyrics to do the storytelling.

It is, though, when she immerses herself into her own lyrics that Wirries closes the deal on her impending rock star status. Three times Maria Wirries performed compositions that bore her name as writer and composer, and three times a stunned audience ovated her at length, once while on their feet, after an unforgettable performance of a song titled "Southern Rain." There can be no mistaking Wirries' skill as a songwriter, and although many singers are destined to sing her songs, no composition should leave her cannon without, first, being presented in her own voice, the voice of a classic rock and roll troubadour.

Rock and Roll wasn't the exclusive order of the evening last night. Perhaps in a display of her versatility, perhaps just because she is a woman of many layers, perhaps just because she can, Maria Wirries delivered the goods with some bonafide country music, some musical theater, and some modern-day pop, each time rearranging the voice issuing forth to fit the authors' intent, and no matter the genre that the funny and frank and always sincere Ms.Wirries was presenting, the resulting musical storytelling rang the ball, both vocally and theatrically. There is, surely, some training in the actress's background, but what we are looking at here is built on a foundation too strong to be taught. Maria Wirries is working with something a person is born with, that special quality that the industry has always called "IT" - the quality that makes a person a star, be it a rock star or any other kind. That's Maria Wirries, all over the place - a star. My advice: get on the Wirries wagon right now and stay on for as long as you can.

The extraordinarily amazing Maria Wirries band was made up of Debbie Tjong on Bass, Ryan McCausland on Drums, Emily Marshall on Piano, John Barry on Guitar, and Musical Director Matt SanGiovanni on Guitar.

Maria Wirries was a one-night performance but more 54 Below shows can be found at the club's website HERE.

Visit the Maria Wirries website HERE

Photos by Stephen Mosher

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