“I loved the show. It was the first time seeing it. It introduced me to another side, kind of a better side of the Chinese story. It reintroduced me to the history, which I loved,” said Cesar Moncada, who works at a medical billing company.

“Today, we just get the sense that China is the Chinese Communist Party. But all the good people that have to live underneath that, you get the real sense that they’re not free. And this allowed me to remember the history and also the people stripped out of the Chinese Communist Party veil,” Mr. Moncada said.

Shen Yun’s artists are trained in classical Chinese dance, one of the most comprehensive dance systems in the world.

“Just the dancing, the expressiveness of it. ... The dancing is beautiful,” said Suzy Smith, a business owner.

A recurring theme on Shen Yun’s stage is the triumph of good over evil. This is especially prevalent in the dances that portray the persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners in present-day China.

“Just the fact that they kept true to their values and what they wanted to accomplish, and they just kept going and going. Regardless of the oppression. It was really neat,” Ms. Smith said.

“Amazing. Unique. A lot of hard work and dedication go into that show. A lot of time, practice, effort,” Mr. Smith said.

“These guys have been doing this for years, you can tell, and it shows in the quality of their performance. I’ve been to maybe a dozen plays in my life, this is right up there with one of the best,” he said.

“I didn’t know anything about the culture of the dancing and now I do. And I like the narrators too, it was very informative,” Ms. Smith said.

Shen Yun’s use of its digital backdrop is patented. The technology’s versatility allows the set to change scenes in the blink of an eye, giving the stage endless possibilities.

“Really interesting, beautiful, the choreography, the set, that screen, whoever created that screen, absolute genius. That adds so much to the show,” Mr. Smith said.