The hit musical Wicked, opening Wednesday (June 3), is visiting Denver for a record-breaking fifth time. Our video above takes you inside the Buell Theatre as crews unloaded 13 trucks and put the set up. It’s a process that takes 2 1/2 days and involves about eight Wicked traveling employees, along with 80 local crew. (About 30 local stagehands will help throughout the run of the show. And nine local musicians will join six who travel with the show for an orchestra of 15).

Your guide in this video is company manager Ryan Lympus.

“We want this experience for the audience to be as close to going to the Gershwin Theatre in New York as possible,” says Lympus, who spent three previous summers in Colorado performing with “Up With People.” 

Video by David Lenk and John Moore.

Wicked: Show information
June 3-July 5
Buell Theatre
Tickets: 303-893-4100, 800-641-1222 or  BUY ONLINE
Accessibility performance: 2 p.m., June 27

Photos from the Wicked Load-In:

Photos by John Moore.

Our recent NewsCenter coverage of Wicked:
Interview with the two stars on the show’s ‘Popular’ appeal
Wicked a show for the green girl in all of us
Wicked has bonded mothers and daughters for a decade in Denver

Announcing the daily Wicked lottery:
A day-of-performance lottery will be held for a limited number of orchestra seats throughout the Denver run of Wicked. Two and one-half hours prior to each performance, people who present themselves at the Buell Theatre box office will have their names placed in a lottery drum; 30 minutes later, names will be drawn for a limited number of orchestra seats at $25 each, cash only.  This lottery is available only in-person at the box office, with a limit of two tickets per person.  Lottery participants must have a valid photo ID when submitting their entry form and, if chosen, when purchasing tickets.

The first piece to be installed is always the overhead dragon, which then oversees all other aspects of the “Wicked” load-in. Photo by John Moore.