Last Saturday was a special event for me.

I attended my first live, digital, high-definition broadcast via satellite of the Metropolitan Opera's production of Richard Wagner's love epic "Tristan und Isolde" at the Point Cinemas on Madison's far west side, one of 600 cinemas around the world to participate in the event.

As you may already know, the current Met production has been notoriously plagued by problems ranging from illness on the part of the male and female leads to a production problem that sent one tenor sliding down the stage into the prompter box and halted the show temporarily.

A laudable production, it proved a long five hours, to be sure. (Most operas are more like  three hours long.) And unless you are a thorough Wagnerian, which I am not, you might be tempted to quote either Rossini or Dorothy Parker (depending on your source) to the effect that Wagner has wonderful minutes punctuated by terrible hours. (The opening orchestral prelude and concluding "Love Death" aria by Isolde were alone worth the price of admission.)

But the event itself is something I highly recommend.

Arrive early. (Call the Point Cinema or check the Met web site at metopera.org under "Watch and Listen" for times).

You'll be surrounded by a highly responsive and enthusiastic crowd for a movie theater.

The audience laughed at some moments and cried at others. They applauded at the right times, along with the Met audience. And the audience members I talked to - it's a very friendly and knowledgeable crowd - seemed to be perceptive critics of the spectacle's big-screen, split-screen format.

I myself really like the format.

You get to go backstage and behind the scenes.

You see conductor James Levine called to the pit and watch him at work with the first-rate Met orchestra.

You hear interviews about the music and the production with Levine, the singers and production people.

You see the amazing singers, like superstar soprano Deborah Voigt (pictured at top left as Isolde) and the tenor Robert Dean Smith (who made his Met debut as Tristan, below at right) in the physically demanding acts of singing while acting. Just watch those neck and mouth muscles move.

You see the set and production process in time-lapse.

It's all very close up and with English subtitles and split-screen projection that gives you close-up and multiple angles.

And the price is right.

Sure, it's not the same as attending a live production.

But for $22 (about $4.25 an hour for Wagner, I estimate) you see all that I mentioned above and more. If you went to the Met for the live excitement, you'd probably pay a more than a hundred dollars for a good seat and still wouldn't be nearly as close to the on-stage or backstage action.

I compare it to baseball.

I'm not really a baseball fan. But I love to watch great pitching - I think it's the hand-eye coordination thing much like playing the piano or shooting pool - and have a better seat to see fastballs on the TV than in a real ballpark.

In this second season, a couple more Met opera productions remain:

On April 5 and 6, you can see Puccini's "La Boheme" with a running time of 2 hours, 55 minutes. (That's a good comparison to the Madison Opera's production last fall.)

On April 26 and 27, the production is Donizetti's "La Fille du Regiment" (Daughter of the Regiment), featuring Nathalie Dessay and Juan Diego Florez, with a running time of 2 hours, 45 minutes. (That's a good complement to the Madison Opera's production of Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor" this May.)

Some advice: take a bottle of water (the seats have headrests and cup holders) and a hearty sandwich (or as power bar) unless you eat lunch beforehand or like to much on cinema popcorn and other junk food. (The intermissions are generous, by the way.)

And let Art Talk know what you think of the experience, whether it is new or something you have done before.

Thumbs up or thumbs down?

What do you like and what don't you like about the Met broadcasts?

How would you change or improve them?