I think one of the things that you have to keep in mind is that it is
theatre and not a rock show. So, as was said, you want to try to avoid "
flash and trash." What do we mean by that? Well, you don't want to just use the MLs because you can, most shows don't need lights swinging around
stage changing colors and such. It's cool, but sometimes just seeing a light
track from one position to another while it is on is really distracting.
I think that you don't want to approach the show any differently than any other show. Think of your moving lights as glorified follow spots or moving specials. Consider that now you have the ability to put almost anyone on
stage in a tight, bright special, so when the main character sings the big love ballad that everyone knows you can put him in a pretty pink special and not have to hang any extra lights for it. You also have the ability to add
gobo textures anywhere on
stage or maybe have an animated fire or water
effect.
The biggest piece of advice is to create focus points. Most of the time I will
lay out focus points that match every lighting area on the
plot and then any specials that the LD wants. I also create focus points for any specific colors the LD wants mixed with the
CMY in the MLs or for looks with gobos and animation. This helps save tons of time because instead of trying to rebuild a look from scratch every time it is needed the LD can say "we need position 100, color 103, and beam & shape 105."
Think of moving lights as just another tool in your bag. Know what the
fixture can do before you start teching the show so that when you or the director say "can we do a little something
effect over here?" you know how to do it. So don't get bogged down with the technical, just think of MLs as regular lights that just happen to do almost anything you want.