Giovanni Furlanetto is one of the best of Figaros. Other productions I've seen (ie, Bryn Terfel) have had good voices but the acting has been lukewarm and lacks something of the tension the opera needs. I highly recommend this production!
Continue - the opposition of the count and Figaro is the strongest in the end, and this Figaro looking more like the master in the beginning and going to pieces in the end really makes a mixture of master-servant relations so important in both Figaro and Don Giovanni, but in this case it is in romantic tradition when the paradox of the former era lost its acuteness that is why it does not look convincing
I'm not sure that Figaro should be too handsome. 1) Figaro is the Servus Ex Machina; he ought to be able to make his boss look better than he can make himself look. 2) There has to be some element of fear in Figaro's jealousy--that maybe Susanna might be attracted to the Count after all, or at least find him somewhat attractive. But at least he manages to make this funny, which is the sine qua non, and also the hurdle that most Figaros fail.
Not Figaro, but the Count, looking like a disappointed romantic lover not as a figure of power. Not bad looking and singing but lacking the mozartean refinedness - all in all rather boring inspite the effort to be expressive.
