MELBOURNE, Australia—Australian business owners Ehab and Valerie Abdou and Faris and Gamila Melhem were thrilled with their front-row tickets to Shen Yun Performing Arts, showing at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, on Feb. 15.

Mr. Abdou, who has traveled to China no less than 12 times, also lamented that New York-based Shen Yun is banned from performing in China, as its message to showcase “China before communism” is suppressed.

“It is a shame that a show like this was done in America and wasn’t born in China,” he said.

Mr. Abdou and his wife said, that as Christians, they found similarities between Shen Yun’s portrayal of the divine Creator’s saving grace and the fundamentals of their beliefs, even with the differences.

“I think any cultural story in any historical period on Earth should be allowed to be told,” he said.

Mrs. Abdou said she thoroughly enjoyed Shen Yun, and its stories about divine intervention, adding that she would like to see it again.

“I felt a spiritual feeling in the show. I felt it was very spiritual,” she said.

The Abdous attended the performance with friends Faris and Gamila Melhem, who are both pharmacists.

Ms. Melhem also expressed how she could relate to the stories that Shen Yun performed through her own faith.

“I’m Christian and it’s related a lot to, there is a God, there is a spiritual life, there is good and bad. So it did relate to a lot of things I believe in,” she said.

“Everything was so beautiful, but the CG [computer graphics] projection was really amazing,” she said.

Mr. Melham agreed, saying how he enjoyed watching the dancers’ characters jump back and forth from the stage into the screen.

“The coordination was unbelievable actually … the coordination between the 3D screen and the people themselves,” he said.

Mr. Melham also felt that the music coming from Shen Yun’s live orchestra in the orchestral pit was able to melt away any tension. “Chinese music, actually, is very relaxing. It is very relaxing,” he said.

Also in the audience was Christina Despoteris OAM, known for her lifetime of service in Victoria’s Greek community and president of Sister Cities Australia, who said she had been wanting to see Shen Yun since COVID-19 but hadn’t found the time.

“Unfortunately, the last couple of years, I wasn’t able to come because I was professionally involved in other things. So this was my first opportunity to see the show,” she said.

“It was really one of the best artistic things that I’ve seen in my life, and I’ve seen a lot,” she said. “I’ve seen a lot of opera, I’ve seen a lot of theatre, I like musical theatre so Andrew Lloyd Webber and other people like that—this is one of the best shows I’ve seen.”