"illuminate the stage" is a correct and usable phrase in written English.
It means to light up or brighten the stage, usually for a performance or event. Example: As the curtains opened and the music began, the powerful spotlights illuminated the stage, setting the mood for the grand ballet performance.
Then, white lights illuminate the stage.
Then, as they're halfway through a track, the music stops and bright lights illuminate the stage.
Their palms send out beams of light that fitfully illuminate the stage and create antic patterns that are a dance in themselves.
By 1784, when Richard Brinsley Sheridan managed the Drury Lane, all lights used to illuminate the stage were out of sight, hidden by the now familiar wings and borders.
Added to that was her voice clear and nuanced and a certain stellar quality that will no doubt help illuminate the stage when the thirty-year-old plays Katherina in Phyllida Lloyd's all-female version of "The Taming of the Shrew" (at the Delacorte, as part of Shakespeare in the Park, through June 26).
The lamps themselves were gradually improved, and footlights remained a major source of stage light until the first half of the 19th century, when high-intensity lights such as the limelight made it possible to illuminate the stage from the front.
She has those qualities of a great writer – humility, intelligence and a rare ability to listen, and seldom seeks the limelight, preferring to turn it where it belongs, towards illuminating the stage".
Playing Sadie, Kathryn Howden has little more to do than pour cups of tea and sell tickets for the staff dance, yet every time she comes on, she illuminates the stage.
The crowd erupted as their distinct symbol, a massive cross, illuminated the stage.
Written by John Tartaglia, Tony-nominated for Avenue Q, it features three fish puppets -- Tank, Bubbles and Dorsel -- who stand out against the black light technology that illuminates the stage.
