Review: Derrick Wang’s ‘Fearless’ is ‘eloquent and moving’
Derrick Wang’s new musical drama Fearless received its world premiere on May 16 & 18, 2025, produced by Opera Delaware at The Grand Opera House, Wilmington, DE.
Broad Street Review writes: “These days, new operas are enriching the repertoire of companies large and small. Joining that creative surge is Fearless by American composer Derrick Wang, staged…in an eloquent and moving premiere production by OperaDelaware.”
On the subject:
Inspired by the life of pioneering 20th-century aviator Hazel Ying Lee, Wang has cultivated fertile storytelling ground.
On the score:
Wang has filled Fearless with soaring melodies, memorable songs and leitmotifs, and masterful orchestration. [T]he work carries overtones of those mid-20th-century great American musicals that combine singing excellence with a compelling story and vivid characters. Here, each of the opera’s four principals is given affecting and well-crafted arias, all delivered with vocal authority and dramatic force.…
Some of the beautiful [songs] include…“Up in the Air” (Hazel’s introductory elevator song); “Is This Your (Our) Country?”, reprised by several characters throughout; and the rousing title theme “Fearless”.
On the libretto:
Five additional (and excellent) singers embody multiple, often cleverly written characters…substantive roles that both advance and deepen the story line. The nine-woman chorus…also is pivotal to the action.…
Wang also crafted dramatic “set pieces” that both entertain and advance the action. For example, Act I’s department store segment, with its lively libretto and cleverly staged chorus, includes Hazel’s aria in the elevator that makes that ubiquitous mechanical apparatus into a metaphor for flight…
Fearless is soulfully written, melodic…and Wang’s libretto…is poetic and moving.
Overall:
[T]he opening night audience sat riveted to the end.…
[I]n OperaDelaware’s premiere production—thoughtfully staged, excellently played, and exploring new dramatic territory—the entire company leaned wholeheartedly into this composer’s vision, one both grounded and soaring.
The full review can be found here.
Pictured (L to R): Luke Norvell (Tenor), Ben Wager (Baritone), Suchan Kim (Victor), Karen Vuong (Iris), and Alice Chung (Mother) in Opera Delaware’s world premiere production of Derrick Wang’s Fearless. Photo credit: Joe del Tufo / Moonloop Photography.
