For our computer era we get the ultimate lightning opera, ideal for commuting city toilers in a perennial rush. All 20 scenes are pressed into 80 minutes of fast-flashing scenes, or four minutes an average segment. You’re carried along as if riding the crest of a wave. Packed in are gigabytes of drama about the flawed genius of the handheld, a brainy superman with super weaknesses. If only he’d have taken time to hold hands more often in his abbreviated life.

“The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs” is a hit opera, playing eight cities in just six years, at a pace comparable to Verdi. And now it’s come to the S.F. Opera, in the city of his birth. Created by the fast-rising local-turned-international composer Mason Bates, 46, it’s a bio-opera of the work-obsessed creator of the ubiquitous “device,” that magical iPhone that does nearly everything short of brushing your teeth.

The college dropout Jobs (1955-2011) was the ultimate mercurial phone-computer geek, a classic Asberger’s case, both self-absorbed and ruthless as he was driven in developing his ingenious product designs reflecting miniaturization that no one had thought possible before. All the while driving partners, colleagues and ladies to distraction day and night in his frenetic drive. This candid biography of the abusive workaholic wizard demands to be seen and heard. As the flawed hero, he belongs in opera, where we have encountered predecessors like Turandot, Don Giovanni, Pinkerton and Lady Macbeth.

Flashing by like a supersonic missile and reeking with authoritarian venom, he marshals his employees and lady-loves like a Pied Piper, leading even himself toward an early grave.

This work is powered foremost by baritone John Moore in the lean-and-mean title role, which fits him like a glove. The lady-loves are Chrisann (Olivia Smith), whom Jobs had impregnated then disavowed, then in the larger role, the spouse Laurene (mezzo Sasha Cooke), neither of them showing convincingly what made them fall in love with the cad.

The strongest moments of the work come in scenes with Jobs’ spiritual adviser in matters Zen, Kobun. Here bass Wei Wu battles Jobs’ frenzy with some of the choicest interplay crafted by librettist Mark Campbell.

Along the way came tenor Bille Brulei as Wozniak, the partner pummeled by Jobs’ ire.

The orchestra under the crisp guidance of Michael Christie played a lesser part with the scurrying of its augmented and electronic percussion, rising to the fore in two intense orchestral segments catching the drama. One ingenious facet of composer Bates was providing an identifying sonic identity to each of the major characters entering the scene.

The opera chorus sang with tireless power, despite making more entrances and exits than in anything previous. The complexities of multiple scenes were managed by Stage Director Kevin Newbury. These smooth changes, with panels glowing in electronic circuitry, helped make this production much more effective than the one encountered at the New Mexico world premiere.

ADDENDA—Born here of Syrian parents, Jobs’ name was originally Abdul Lateef Jandali…. A techno artist emerged from the pit to take bows with the singers when seen Sept. 24, receiving animated applause from an audience clearly captivated by his work. His name: Mason Bates, yes, the same…. The most memorable music for these ears was Jobs’ “Tap, Tap” opening aria, the entry-scene aria of Kobun, and the eulogy “Look Up” by Laurene with the chorus.

MASON BATES’ OPERA “The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs” by the S.F. Opera, heard Sept. 24. Through Oct. 7. For SFO info: (415) 864-3330, or www.sfopera.com.

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