There's a lot of work to be done before a cluttered, chaotic stage at the State Theatre in Easton can properly host a famous green ogre and his friends.

"Basically, a load-in like this is controlled chaos," said Jamie Balliet, the theatre's senior vice president of marketing.

The theater is welcoming "Shrek The Musical" fresh from the Great White Way for a three-night run.

The clock was ticking. There were fewer than 12 hours to cart in and set up four truckloads worth of lighting equipment, sound equipment, scenery and more.

It was a good thing then that the 80 person crew doing the heavy lifting knows the drill.

"There are people doing so many different things at the same time, and remarkably it all comes together at the end," said Balliet.

The drama wasn't just unfolding on stage, either. There were costumes to be mended and tended to so Shrek and company can shine at show time.

"It'll take them probably up until we raise the curtain at 7:00 to be ready," Balliet said.

Regardless of how close they would cut it, the State Theatre said you can be sure of one thing:

"It's going to be a fantastic show," said Balliet.