Happy birthday,
Henry!

CELEBRATING HIS "BIG FIVE-0": Hawaii Opera Theatre Artistic Director Henry Akina, second from left, celebrated his 50th birthday Saturday as the guest of honor at a HOT fund-raiser in Haiku. With heavy pupus from Indigo, a custom-designed cake by Cakelava, sushi, wine and a sake bar, the partyers had plenty of choices. A poster-sized copy of the colorful invitation was signed by all the guests as a memento, but Gordon Svec stole the show by giving Akina a horned Viking helmet decorated with artificial maile, pikake and ilima leis, tiny blinking lights, and finger puppets representing Guiseppe Verdi and Giacomo Puccini, the composers whose operas will be staged next season. Akina's mother, Eleanor Akina, left, Dean Shibuya and Bonnie Judd congratulated him as he surveyed the Indigo buffet.

TWO PRESIDENTS: Mark Wong, president of Commercial Data Systems and an avid patron of the arts, caught up with Sarah Richards, president of the Hawaii Theatre Center. Wong kept a small group of party guests spellbound later that evening as he shared some of his experiences as an American tourist in Libya this summer.

HE'S READY TO GO: Joshua Komer, left. Elise DeBoard and Richard M. Towill arrived fashionably on time and were able to enjoy the view before the sun set. Komer, a guitarist, is wrapping up gigs here and preparing to move to Vancouver.

HE'LL BE ON STAGE SOON: Pam McCoy, left, and her husband, Jim, talked with HOT staffers Bebe Freitas, second from left, and Karen Tiller. Freitas played keyboards for the vocalists at the party. Jim will be making his HOT debut in the 2006 season with a walk-on role in "Tosca" in March.

MEET THREE FUTURE STARS: Jill Friedman, left, HOT Opera Ball chair, congratulated Chiho Villasenor, Amy Healey and Kate Sarff on their solo performances during the party. Sarff, a marine biologist by day, will have a supporting role in HOT's production of "Il Trittico" in February.