The center was commissioned by Jerome "Jerry" Frautschi and Pleasant Rowland (founder of American Girl) and designed by César Pelli.

Bob D'Angelo, the first President and CEO, resigned in 2005 following an Overture Center employee's allegations of sexual harassment.

[2] Following his resignation, D'Angelo served 10 months of a one-year prison term for tax evasion and misusing his city office.

[2] More recent Presidents and CEOs of the Overture Center include Michael Goldberg, Tom Carto, Ted DeDee and Sandra Gajic.

The only venue accessible to the public during regular hours, it features a color scheme of fuchsia walls and floors, as well as permanent audience riser seats.

These fears were exacerbated by the liquidation of the trust fund that was set up to pay the construction debt for the building as well as provide some operating income.

[5] The liquidation left some construction debt that was paid for by Jerry Frautschi, Pleasant Rowland, and a number of their friends and associates.

The Overture Center continues to be a privately owned facility and is now run by a non-profit; it is no longer a City of Madison agency.

With an estimated operating budget of $18.4 million, the Overture Center seemed to have emerged from its financial difficulty in fiscal year July to June 2012–13.

[8] When the Overture Center scheduled a touring production of Miss Saigon in April 2019, local scholars and members of the Asian American community voiced their concerns about the controversial show.

They are, as scholar Karen Shimakawa puts it, “either hypersexualized Dragon Ladies in string bikinis or Kim, the single Lotus Blossom—shy, passive, virginal in an ersatz Vietnamese wedding gown.”[9] Following public objections, the Overture Center staff worked with a group of scholars and members of the Asian American community to organize a free, publicly accessible panel discussion called "Asian American Perspectives on Miss Saigon: Stereotypes, History and Community.

The Overture Center replaced one of the panelists with a local theater producer, whose company staged a concert version of Miss Saigon in 2007.

In addition, a critical essay written by Dr. Timothy Yu — composed at the Overture Center's request — would no longer be included as a program insert.

[11] Shortly after, the Overture Center informed the panelists that the questions prepared by scholar and moderator Leslie Bow would no longer be included.

'"[15] In response to the sudden cancellation, the Asian American panelists held a "teach-in" protest outside of the Overture Center.

[11] This claim was disputed by Yu, who publicly shared an email establishing that Overture had offered to include a two-page insert in the Miss Saigon program to provide further context.

"[19] Later that day, Edgewood College canceled a planned trip to the production due to increased awareness of the show's content.

We in OSII will not support anything that shows any person of gender, color, nationality, creed, sexual orientation, in a negative portrayal.