PHILADELPHIA—Anticipation filled the Miller Theater as the curtain rose on Shen Yun Performing Arts on April 19. Vincent Bocina, an emergency room psychologist, said, “The choreography was something I have never seen before.”

“I learned a lot, actually, and to me it was a cultural experience which I felt to be really interesting, the way it showed it from the beginning, and then how it kind of took us to the current time. And how things can get better—I definitely saw the sign of hope,” he said.

“It was sad to see,” Mr. Bocina said, “but the way that things turned around made it very encouraging. There were several spiritual messages. I happen to be a very spiritual person, so that really sunk in with me. The way it was very dramatic, it really made a point.”

Mr. Bocina acknowledged how good is rewarded, and evil is punished. He “saw that evil tried to take over, but the good prevailed. So that was nice to see. A great message,” he said.

“I did not realize it was going to be like this. I did not realize it was the story. I think that is what people would need to know: there is a message there that builds from the beginning to the end. So I would definitely encourage people to see it. I do not think it is what they expect,” he said.

Mr. Bocina said Shen Yun was “a birthday gift to me because it was something I wanted to see for a long time. I will probably come back next year. I would like to see that it is going to be different, so I think that will be exciting to see.”