The musical and verbal world of Gilbert and Sullivan is a distinctive thing, rooted in the time and place of Victorian England. What would happen if someone were to try updating that sensibility to the contemporary world?

The result might sound very much like “By Georges!,” the smoothly engaging new operetta by composer Charles Vincent Burwell and librettist James D. Sasser, which had its world premiere over the weekend withLamplighters Music Theatre,which commissioned it.

This 75-minute one-act show is a portrait of乔斯eph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, the Black composer, violinist, swordsman and revolutionary who traced a dashing figure across 18th century France before being largely lost to history for centuries. “By Georges!” is part of the current revival of interest in Saint-Georges’ life and work, along with the recent feature film“Chevalier.”

But whereas the cinematic biopic takes a valorizing approach to his life, turning the Chevalier into a sort of musical and racial superhero, “By Georges!” treats its subject with a light and whimsical touch — just as Gilbert and Sullivan might have done under analogous circumstances.

During its second performance on Saturday, May 6, at the Presidio Theatre in San Francisco, “By Georges!” traced a zippy course across a single fictional day in the protagonist’s life. In three broadly sketched episodes, we see Saint-Georges struggle to find a patron wealthy and committed enough to back the production of his opera; we watch him dispatch a couple of hapless opponents in one-sided duel; and we observe with satisfaction as his opera and his love life both take a turn for the better in time for the final curtain.

Presiding over all of this is the novelist and playwright Alexandre Dumas, whose namesake father was in fact an associate of the Chevalier’s. Dumas (Martin T. Bell) reminds us that everything here is a benign fiction, designed to chase away the audience’s mundane doldrums.

So the struggles of a Black man against the racist strictures of pre-Revolutionary society are touched on but not illuminated very sharply, and the machinations of the royal court are played for laughs in directorCéline Ricci’scarefree staging. Marie Antoinette’s long-awaited first entrance in particular is a hilarious coup de theatre, one among many.

Of course, this constitutes its own kind of superhero story. In this telling, Saint-Georges — embodied with vocal splendor and physical charisma by Omari Tau — emerges as a lithe, untouchable sprite, hopping nimbly over obstacles and conquering every challenge as easily as he triumphs on the dueling ground.

Burwell’s score, conducted by Mary Chun, is a fascinating combination of past and present. The performance began with a taste of Saint-Georges’ own music, a gallant movement for string quartet, just to orient the audience stylistically.

The rest of the piece moves assuredly back and forth between faux 18th century strains for the stately, bewigged white Parisians, and a fluid, hip-hop style for Saint-Georges when he’s alone with his own thoughts. Here the echoes of“Hamilton”are unavoidable, but “By Georges!” holds its own in the comparison.

The production boasted excellent performances by Leslie Katter as the soprano who helps Saint-Georges achieve his artistic vision, by Amy Foote as the self-infatuated (and openly racist) soprano Blanche de Pompeuse, by Deborah Martínez Rosengaus as Marie Antoinette, and especially by Krista Wigle in a blazingly virtuosic turn as Saint-Georges’ first, short-lived patron.

In keeping with the demands of the period, Lamplighters has staged the piece with an eye to ornate display, featuring vivid costumes (Miriam R. Lewis), sets and projections (Peter Crompton) and choreography (Antoine Hunter, a.k.a. Purple Heart Crow).

In addition to its immediate pleasures, “By Georges!” represents the beginning of an answer to a ticklish question: How long can organizations like Lamplighters, built around the operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan and their few relevant colleagues (Johann Strauss, Franz Lehár) continue to thrive on the same small body of work?

Cheryl Blalock, the company’s forward-looking interim artistic director, had the right idea, which is to back the creation of new works that can be added to that pool of possibilities. Hopefully “By Georges!” will mark the first step in an even broader expansion.

Reach Joshua Kosman:jkosman@sfchronicle.com; Twitter:@JoshuaKosman