The traveling production of “Miss Saigon” arrives at Madison’s Civic Center tonight, beginning a six-night stand featuring eight performances in a landmark season.

“Miss Saigon”‘s arrival is coinciding with the erection of the Overture Center’s steel roof over its 2,500-seat performance hall.

A 2,250-seat Overture Hall, three community-performance spaces and a Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters Gallery are scheduled to be completed by the September 2004 target date.

“We all look forward to a grand opening that will bring as many people as possible into what we hope will become one of Madison’s most treasured civic buildings,” George Austin, president of the Overture Development Corp., said in a statement.

The project’s construction cost has been estimated at over $100 million. The Overture Development Corporation, a nonprofit organization, will borrow up to $115 million to construct the project using revenue bonds. Fautschi’s gift will provide credit support for the debt, and the debt will be paid from revenues received through a lease with the Madison Cultural Arts District, which the city of Madison created in 2000 to operate, and ultimately own, the facility.

The Overture Center will contain a multi-floor rotunda topped with a glass dome. The project also includes renovations of the Oscar Mayer Theater and the Isthmus Playhouse and construction of a new Madison Art Center, as well as the construction of Overture Hall, a performance venue seating 2,200, and space for three art galleries, one in the Overture Center and two in the Oscar Mayer Theater, to display works by local and regional artists.