Raleigh Hightower
Lifestyle Editor
[email protected]

Murray State students have brought one of the University’s longest standing traditions back to campus, the 85th annual Campus Lights production.

The Campus Lights productions are led by music fraternities Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia and Sigma Alpha Iota. These organizations donate the proceeds of Campus Lights toward music scholarships.

This year’s production was “Legally Blonde: The Musical.” The musical was staged in Robert E. Johnson theater from Jan. 21-23.

“Legally Blonde: The Musical” is an adaptation of the  novel by Amanda Brown, which was popularized by the 2001 film.

The musical’s plot, which closely follows the plot of the novel and film, stars Elle Woods who follows her ex-boyfriend to Harvard Law School hoping to win back his love. Elle Woods is played by senior theatre major, Tesla Like. But Elle, surprisingly,  comes into her own at the school and becomes a successful student.

“Elle Woods is a woman for women . . . the high Malibu standard never mattered to her as much as being with her friends, wearing pink and loving her dog,” Like said. “I think that’s something that girls of all ages can relate to and that’s why she has become so iconic.”

This year’s Campus Lights production was run entirely by students and alumni, featuring 33 cast members, pit musicians and other stage staff.

The cast was directed by Wayne Shields-Hogue, a recent Murray State graduate who has participated in six different Campus Lights productions. Shields-Hogue has directed two Campus Lights productions and performed in four others.

“The cast has been beyond amazing to work with,” Shields-Hogue said. “They have always been supportive of each other from cheering each other on at auditions to our final performance.”

Live musicians from Murray State’s Music Department performed the music featured in the musical. The production’s instrumental director, Nic Hawkins, organized and rehearsed with the pit orchestra, synced the instrumental music with the vocalists and conducted the show.

The Song “Moon Love,” which was played at the open and close of this production, is a Campus Lights tradition.  “Moon Love” is a song adapted from Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony and was famously featured on Frank Sinatra’s 1966 album Moonlight Sinatra.

Hawkins, whose mother was the music director for Campus Lights in 1994, explained the significance this song has for anyone involved with Campus Lights.

“When she (Hawkins’s mother) was involved, they would use different numbers from many different shows to create their own story, and the song ‘Moon Love’ always made its way in,” Hawkins said. “She came to the show Saturday afternoon and told me that our post-show ‘Moon Love’ made her cry.”

For 85 years, the teams behind the Campus Lights productions have brought theater and music to the community of Murray, and hopes they will continue to do so in the future.

“Campus Lights is an experience I will never forget, and I hope more musicians and audience members will get to experience the same in the future,” Hawkins said.