The Smith Center for the Performing Arts celebrated a significant construction milestone on April 23 when crews raised a massive 68,000-pound steel cap onto the Carillon Bell Tower.

"To see each step in the construction process come to life after 17 years in the making is inspiring," said Myron Martin, president and CEO of The Smith Center for the Performing Arts. "For all the people who have been intimately involved on this project over the years, including the more than 2,600 construction workers, these milestones are especially exciting."

Construction crews are now focusing on the state-of-the-art interior, a task that will take almost one year to complete. The five-acre cultural campus features three performance spaces, the 2,050-seat main performance area in Reynolds Hall and Boman Pavilion's 258-seat cabaret theater and 250-seat studio theater. Currently on time and on budget, The Smith Center is set to welcome its first audience on March 10, 2012.

The Smith Center recently announced the 2012 Broadway Las Vegas series which will include such Broadway hits as The Color Purple, Disney and Cameron Mackintosh's Mary Poppins, Million Dollar Quartet and 2010 Tony Award Winning Best Musical Memphis.  Season tickets for the 2012 Broadway Las Vegas series will go on sale July 2011. Individual tickets will go on sale in fall 2011. The illustrious titles join Wicked which will kick-off the 2012-2013 Broadway Las Vegas series in August of 2012. 

The Smith Center is a major catalyst of redevelopment in downtown Las Vegas and creates a new level of economic diversification for the city of Las Vegas.

For more information, visit www.thesmithcenter.com.

Photo: Crews raise the massive steel cap onto the Carillon Bell Tower of The Smith Center