Why was Giacomo Meyerbeer’s Robert le Diable an overwhelming success in its time ? The Royal Opera House production suggests why: it’s a cracking good show! Extreme singing, testing the limits of vocal endurance, and extreme drama. Robert le Diable is Faust, after all, not history, and here its spirit is captured by audacious but well-informed staging. Listen with an open mind and heart and imagine how audiences in Meyerbeer’s time might have imagined the madness and magic that is Robert le diable.