Bernard Shaw, in The Perfect Wagnerite, had already cast scorn on Robert and commented that "Nowadays young people cannot understand how anyone could have taken Meyerbeer's influence seriously." Nevertheless, productions of Robert included those in New Orleans and Nice in 1901, Paris (at the Gaité Lyrique) in 1911, Barcelona in 1917, at the Vienna Volksoper in 1921 and Bordeaux in 1928. The first production after the Second World War was in Florence in 1968, a shortened version with a cast including Renata Scotto and Boris Christoff. In 1984 the revival at the Paris Opéra with Rockwell Blake (Robert), Samuel Ramey (Bertram), Walter Donati (Raimbaut), Michèle Lagrange (Alice) and June Anderson (Isabelle) was the first performance there since 1893. In 1999 a new production was mounted at the Prague State Opera. A performance of a new critical edition of Robert le diable by Wolfgang Kühnhold was presented at the Berlin State Opera in March 2000 with Jianyi Zhang (Robert), Stephan Rügamer (Raimbaut), Kwangchul Youn (Bertram), Marina Mescheriakova (Alice), and Nelly Miricioiu (Isabelle), conducted by Marc Minkowski. Twenty-first century A new production of the opera, directed by Laurent Pelly, was premiered at the Royal Opera House London on 6 December 2012, the first time it had been performed there since 1890. At La Monnaie, Brussels, there were concert performances of Robert le Diable in April 2019, with Dmitry Korchak as Robert, Nicolas Courjal as Bertram and Lisette Oropesa as Isabelle, conducted by Evelino Pidò. Roles Synopsis The plot of the opera has been often cut or rearranged in various productions. The outline given below follows the description given in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera (1992). Act 1 On the shore at Palermo Robert and his mysterious friend Bertram are among a group of knights who are preparing to compete in a tournament for the hand of Princess Isabelle. They all praise wine, women and gambling (Versez à tasses pleines). Robert's attendant Raimbaut sings a ballad about a beautiful princess from Normandy who married a devil; the princess had a son, Robert, known as 'le diable'. Robert indignantly reveals that he is the son in question and condemns Raimbaut to death. Raimbaut begs for pardon and tells Robert that he is engaged to marry. Robert relents and relishes the thought of the droit du seigneur. Raimbaut's fiancée arrives; Robert recognizes her as his foster-sister Alice and pardons Raimbaut. Alice tells Robert that