ESCONDIDO, Calif.—Mike Reeves attended Shen Yun Performing Arts for the first time on March 13, enjoying the New York-based company’s opening night performance this season at California Center for the Arts, Escondido.

“I thought it was great,” said Mr. Reeves, a recently retired vice president of IT. “I thought the orchestra was fantastic, and the dancing was wonderful.”

“I think for me, the combination of all of the elements together, the music and the dance and the theatrical elements ... the synergy really was something special.”

“That was a very neat way to engage the audience and connect with the artistic and deeper meanings behind the cultural elements,” Mr. Reeves said. “I thought that it was very instructional, educational, understanding what that cultural background is.”

“You saw stories of redemption. You saw, I'd say, many of the kinds of beliefs and traits that are common throughout humanity across the globe,” he said. “I certainly was able to take away some of the key messages that were there. So obviously, faith in the higher power is a key message that came across, and that connection to hope for things to be better, but that we participate in making that happen.”

“I thought that it was very instructional, educational, understanding what that cultural background is,” he said. “I thought they were excellent ... very expressive and able to communicate the story and the meanings and the facial expressions.”