David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center was filled with the audience for Zhang Huoding's US debut show The Legend of the White Snake on Wednesday. By Li Jing / China Daily

Zhang Qiyue, the Chinese consul general in New York who also attended, shared a story on Thursday with New York state senators and Assembly members on the occasion of the celebration of a New York resolution recognizing the cooperation between New York and China and President Xi Jinping's upcoming state visit.

"I was worried people would have not understood it (the opera)," Zhang said. "It is a very complicated story, very difficult to understand. The opera had a lot of singing and little drama. Actually, everybody enjoyed it so much, people did not want to leave after the performance."

She said that "if people can understand a difficult thing like Peking Opera, which most Chinese people don't understand, I think we have a good story there."

Whitney Robinson said he saw a lot of opera in general, but there was little Chinese opera in America. "There is always Western opera. The chance to see something Chinese is kind of quite remarkable."

Robinson had never heard of Zhang but read up on her before the show. "There is so much about Zhang Huoding, and to see someone famous is very interesting," he added.