Following Phoenix, Shen Yun continues its full house performances at Tucson Music Hall.
Sheldon Metz, a theater director and founder of the Alliance Performance Center of Tucson, surprised his wife for the first time in 35 years with a Shen Yun performance on Feb. 26.
“It was mesmerizing, it just got your heart, the stories, every act, every dance had a story to it and it just engrossed you. The music was phenomenal. I mean it just kept your eyes open.”
“When I direct a show, I tell my actors to reach into the heart of the audience, massage it, then give it back to them. This show did that to me. It grabbed me, it held me there. I didn’t even leave at the intermission. I stayed there, waiting for it to come back.
“The costumes were gorgeous, especially how they used the costumes, but the scenery that you see in the background, and watching it change, I blinked and it was changing and I couldn’t see it and I wanted to see how it was done. I know it’s a special copyrighted production set, but it’s gorgeous. And imagine, it changes every year. The work that has to go into it. And I noticed one thing that, every, especially the women more, had a smile in every dance, they just never broke that smile. It was hard to keep the smile for two hours. They did a beautiful job. They all seemed to be so enjoying themselves.”
Daryl Mallett, a filmmaker, attended the performance with his son, daughter, and her friend who dances ballet.
“I think when the first character would jump out of the screen, they all went wow, so it’s something they’ve never seen before in real life.”
“The music was fantastic. And the fun, you can tell that they’re having fun, like when the orchestra was interrupting the announcer. The whole audience was laughing, right? Because each instrument got a chance to play. Nobody does stuff like that, so was very nice to see. Yes, it’s a serious thing to do the dance, but if you’re having fun with it too at the same time, so you’re bringing multiple levels to the performance.”
He thought the element of a higher power provided a nice universal touch.
“You’re trying to bring the basics back to people, right? You’re trying to tell people that there’s more to the world than what just the governments are telling you. So to be able to share your faith on stage like this is just very heartwarming for me to see that.
“We are very shy about sharing that. It’s supposed to be very personal, but I think it’s beautiful when people share their faith with other people. It’s very nice.”
NTD News, Tucson, Arizona
