Several years ago I went to see a colleague's musical on Broadway. I know this man to be a brilliant lighting designer. He is respected among his peers and has even won a Tony award for his excellent work. However, the show I saw did not approach the quality of this designer's reputation. Lights were focused so poorly that the gobo patterns did not match, actors stood in the dark, the colors were all washed out, and lighting cues were being called in the wrong place. I looked behind me at the lights hanging on the balcony rail and noticed that every gel had a three-inch hole burnt in the middle of it. This was one of the most unfortunate looking shows I had ever seen.
A week later I saw my friend and told him that I saw his show. I could see the blood drain from his face. “Oh My!” he said: “That show is a disaster! I am so sorry.” I asked him why it was in such shambles. He replied: “The stage manager does not know how to call a show, and the producers refuse to pay for a crew call to maintain the lighting. The gels have not been replaced for six months!” What I thought was bad lighting was actually not caused by the designer, but by the stage manager and producer who were not adequately supporting the show.
So how do you know when the lighting's bad? The answer is simple: When the stage lighting distracts you from the message of the moment. As Robert Edmund Jones said, "The sole aim of the arts of scene-designing, costuming, lighting, is… to enhance the natural powers of the actor." “Enhance” is the important word in this statement.
I have seen too many shows where the lighting designer thinks that he/she is the star of the show. This is especially tempting when you consider all the cool technology available in modern lighting fixtures and controllers. It is important that lighting designers use restraint when incorporating high tech into their designs as it's easy to get carried away and enamored with the technology. Just because a light can move does not mean you have to make it move for every show or service. Use the movement of the light as a function to support the performers, presenters or musicians and what they are trying to say. The same can be said for decisions regarding color, intensity, focus, transition time, and texture. Let the audience “feel” the lighting, not be distracted from it.
The common buzzword in the lighting industry is “eye-candy.” This comes from the rock concert industry where a large element of the design aesthetic is “flash and trash.” Lighting manufacturers are creating fixtures that incorporate these flashy effects primarily to cater to that industry. Many of those fixtures have made their way to the theatre and house of worship. It is important to remember that just because the fixture may have those capabilities, it does not mean they can't be used in more subtle ways.
It all comes down to “less is more.” I find that the simpler and bolder the lighting atmosphere (or transition), the more theatrically effective it is. This simplicity almost always assures a powerful and effective design. There is no reason to have two hundred light cues when fifty would suffice. Sure, I design some musicals with hundreds of cues, but I also design shows with twenty or so cues. The way I see it, the fewer cues I write, the more time I can devote to fine-tune the atmospheres and transitions.
Here's filter I often use to help the audience avoid a “bad lighting” experience. Try to look at the lighting you have created from the point of view of the audience. Ask yourself, “Am I looking at and feeling this song, or am I looking at the lighting?” This should help keep you on the path to powerful and effective stage lighting design.
