WORCESTER, Mass.—Brian and Kay Stewart traveled from New Hampshire to enjoy Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Hanover Theatre on April 25.

Mr. Stewart, a chief nuclear engineer and consultant, said, “It was well worth it. It was fantastic. [The dancers] were visually appealing and stunning.”

Mr. Stewart’s work is demolition. “We’re actually wrecking the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier the USS Enterprise. I’m in charge of directing people to dismantle it,” he said.

His experience in a Navy submarine gave him a front row seat in the fall of Soviet communism. “I started out in nuclear power in the Navy. I rode a ballistic missile submarine in the North Sea playing bumper boats with the Russians.

“So I got to see the fall of Soviet communism. It was fantastic. I'd like to see the fall of Chinese communism.  I don’t want to see communism anywhere. It never works. Never has. Socialism is communism and never works. It needs to be abolished. It enslaves people,” he said.

“We would like to see the CCP go. That would be good. We'd love to get rid of them,” said Mrs. Stewart.

Shen Yun features a patented digital backdrop that interacts with the dancers as they go in and out of a magical landscape. This impressed Mr. Stewart.

“I still can’t wrap my mind around how they could go in and out of that backdrop,” he said. “I was looking for the magician’s trick, and I didn’t see it. So you guys really closed that up well. It was fantastic. I don’t know how they do it. I really don’t.”

Shen Yun presents stories from 5,000 years of traditional Chinese culture before communism.

Mr. Steward said, “It was stunning to see the Chinese culture. We both took Tai Chi years ago ... and so we got some of that. But seeing it here today, [especially] the spiritual nature of Falun Gong, was really nice. That was special.”

Mrs. Stewart, a retired music and movement instructor in nursery schools and kindergartens, said, “Actually, it’s very Christ-like in some ways.”

“Deities are the same the world over,” Mr. Stewart said.

A live orchestra performs at every Shen Yun performance, featuring both Eastern and Western instruments. Mrs. Stewart said, “Loved it. Just beautiful.”

The Chinese two-stringed instrument called the erhu performs a solo.

“I love that,” Mrs. Stewart said. “So beautifully it blends well with so many sounds.”

The Stewarts said they will be back. “The show was great. I don’t know how they’re going to come up with another one next year, but we'll be here to see it,” Mr. Stewart said.