While many in the sold-out audience at Wortham Theater Center wept at the conclusion of the opening night performance of Puccini's Madame Butterfly, by the time Houston Grand Opera patrons reached the party tent on Fish Plaza, spirits were soaring. We can assure that the operatic high of the opening night gala was due more to the stellar production than to the bubbly that awaited guests as they arrived for the late-evening dinner.

Tuxedos and long gowns, jewels from the vault, butterfly images rendered in pastel shades on murals and butterfly chandeliers overhead — the genteel tableau was one of Houston society at its finest. Surely, it was an image not lost on Madame Butterfly director Michael Grandage, who joined opera supporters for the gently Asian-themed dinner by Tony's. (The only sushi was done in creative chocolates, served after dessert, to be consumed via shiny red chopsticks.)

Notables filled the butterfly-infused tent including opening night celebration chair Margaret Williams on the arm of Jim Daniel, dinner honorees Franci and Jim Crane, HGO special events chair Donna Bruni of San Antonio with husband Robert, Museum of Fine Arts Houston director Peter Marzio and wife Frances, Houston Symphony executive director and CEO Mark Hanson and wife Christina, Houston Ballet managing director C.C. Connor and two of the city's wealthiest couples Nancy and Rich Kinder and Mindy and Jeff Hildebrand, both on the Forbes list of richest Americans. Add University of Houston chancellor and president Renu Khator and husband Suresh Khator to the list.

Lynn Wyatt, stunning in an Asian-inspired gown by Yves Saint Laurent, beamed as she was photographed with lead soprano Ana Maria Martinez. And with good reason. Martinez was the first performer to be conscripted through the Lynn Wyatt Fund for Great Artists. That fund was established last spring with a $1 million gift to HGO from Oscar Wyatt.

He was in the family's box for the performance but, as he's continuing to recover from a stroke, did not join his wife at the dinner. She was seated with HGO general director Anthony Freud and his partner Colin Ure.

Femmes in the gathering, who might to be inclined to leave their husbands for a handsome tenor, were envious of evening honoree Franci Crane, who was seated next to Joseph Calleja, the charming tenor from Malta who had many swooning over his lyrical Pinkerton.

In the sellout crowd of more than 500, we spotted Beth Madison, Diane Lokey Farb with Cerón, Molly and Jim Crownover, Bobbie-Vee and Gerald Cooney, Sharin Gaille, Susan and Dick Hansen, Joseph Bruni of San Antonio, Sheridan and John Eddie Williams, Cornelia and Meredith Long, Michelle and Frank Hevrdejs and Susan Krohn with fiancé Patrick Gehm.