Hawaii-grown puppet artist works his magic at the Met

Rep. Lee's son, Tom, is a professional puppet artist whose talents are being featured in Anthony Minghella's "Madama Butterfly" at the Metropolitan Opera in New York this season. Tom grew up in Hawaii but now lives in Brooklyn. (In the pic, he's the one on the left with the beard.)

Tom, 34, will be the puppeteer behind Butterfly's young son, "played" by a bunraku-style puppet in this major production. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle featured Tom in an article in September.

Hawaii residents may eventually be able to see a sample of his talents in a project he's working on now. In "Ko'olau: A True Story of Hawaii," Tom uses puppetry to tell the story of Native Hawaiians who contracted leprosy in the 1800s and were forced to leave their families and live in exile.