Yes, the rubric actually says to turn them on right (ETA: oops, yes, right before) the Exsultet. (Tell your priest to check the Roman Missal; it will say right before the Exsultet.) As you've experienced, people prefer the darkness til the Gloria b/c it definitely adds to the "suspense" and "drama" of the Vigil (the glory of the Gloria!)
As for why they get away with it? On the scale of liturgical abuses, I think this one is pretty far down the line. And secondly, think of the concept of having a rubric for lights anyhow- Is there really a requirement for there to be lights at all at a Mass? Of course not - a Mass with no lights would be perfectly valid and licit. (as long as everyone could see enough to say the proper texts.) What if some crazy kid decided to randomly flash the lights at a regular Sunday Mass- while it would certainly be distracting, that wouldn't either make the Mass illicit. I definitely know there are flaws to this logic, (obviously even though *normally* the lights aren't part of the rubrics, when the are, we ought to follow it,) but to me, this seems a very "weak" rubric, since when/whether the lights are on or off really has nothing to do with the action going on at the altar, which is normally what the rubrics are concerned with.

Sorry I'm rather convoluted tonight... I'm curious to hear others' thoughts on this!

This from the Roman Missal:

When the Deacon arrives before the altar, he stands facing the people, raises up the candle and sings a third time:
"The Light of Christ."
and all reply:
"Thanks be to God."
Then the Deacon places the Paschal candle on a large candle stand prepared next to the Ambo or in the middle of the sanctuary.
And lights are lit throughout the church, except for the altar candles.

Question: was this practice originally "lamps," not "lights?" I neither have an editio typica Missal nor would I be able to use if it I had one. This rubric would make a lot more sense if it were referring to oil lamps instead of the great big spots many churches have now.

This makes some sense, especially if there would be dim light throughout the church, and lots of candles on the altar for easter.

Marajoy - although I agree with your sentiment that, "when/whether the lights are on or off really has nothing to do with the action going on at the altar," I admit that I am disappointed (mostly in myself) to learn only now about the details of this particular rubric. We had usually put the lights on just at the start of the Gloria, which I think did add to the glory of it. Here's a quick side story to support your thoughts about lighting in general:

At our 2011 Christmas Midnight Mass, we were just about to begin the liturgy when a transformer down the street blew up - virtually at the stroke of midnight. The whole neighborhood was blacked out including the church. So, without the use of the organ and with only the altar candles (and a couple of flashlights) to light the church, we sang everything a cappella and from memory as it was too dark in the loft to see the music. In the end it didn't matter much - it was an absolutely beautiful liturgy.

Don't wait until the Gloria...that completely screws up the distinction between the Service of Light and the Liturgy of the Word, betraying a poor liturgical understanding.

Part of the problem with having the lights on where it's prescribed is that we then stand in the dark with our candles for so short a time! (I mean, come on... darkness?! candles?! So cooooool! Don't we want to prolong that!?) ;-)

There is a downside to fully illuminating the church: once you do that, the "awesome glory of this holy light", the paschal candle, no longer stands out: it is hardly noticeable.

Have you ever been in a church lit with nothing but massive amounts of candlelight? It is a lot of things, maybe even romantic. But hardly pale.

Agreed. The rubrics ask to lit all lights in the church (except for the altar candles), which can be electric lights but, of course, candle lights as well. I would even prefer the latter. But these lights are to be added to the light from the Paschal Candle and the lighted candles of the faithful. The entire church should bath in light, significantly contrasting the darkness of the church before the preparation of the candle.

There is a downside to fully illuminating the church: once you do that, the "awesome glory of this holy light", the paschal candle, no longer stands out: it is hardly noticeable.

There's no real need to. The light of the Paschal Candle stood out during the procession when it was the only light in the darkness of the church and announced as the Light of Christ. As soon as it is placed on its stand it becomes, by the spreading of its light among the faithful and by switching on the other lights in the church "a fire into many flames divided, yet never dimmed by sharing of its light."

It may help to remember that the Easter Vigil is not a linear historical pageant recreating the moment of the Resurrection.

The rubric uses cereus, "wax candle", candela, "wax taper", and lampada, "lamp, oil light". Lampada is the ordinary word for the altar lamp, and it's also the word used in the Proclamation to refer to the light "drawn out by mother bees", quas in substántiam pretiósae huius lámpadis apis mater edúxit.

It's normal even in rubrical English to use "light" to mean candle, and in the rubric during the vigil the lampades in the church are accenduntur, "kindled": the normal way of saying "light a lamp". And my point is that the liturgical language doesn't really have a word for "electric light". Electric lights were not allowed as altar lights for quite a long time after the former's introduction into churches.

Of course before 1955 and since time immemorial the vigil was anticipated in the morning of Holy Saturday, and so there is no tradition of the "Service of Light" : that (and the individual tapers) is a very recent innovation (or, if you prefer, a "deep restoration"). Nevertheless, its seems clear that the rubric calls for the same "level of lighting" for the Proclamation as for the rest of the service. (And it seems to me to be good taste, at least, for there not to be too much artificial light.)

Candlelight Service of Lessons and Carols

I was once at an Easter Vigil where the priest described it in precisely those terms during the homily. They also replaced some of the Psalms with random-but-related choir pieces, including (no joke) Go Down Moses and 'Dem Bones.

Well, the minimum is three OT readings, so that was probably OK. The Exodus reading is mandatory.