★★★★½ 4.5 out of 5 stars LUMBERHeld over

If a play is staged, and no one reviews it, is it still four and a half stars?

In a show about driving to the Yukon to cut down trees, I did not expect so much commentary about bureaucracy.

Colin Wolf is an excellent performer here, and I must give kudos to both his comedic presentation and also his projection. Even when there was conflicting background sound, I could always hear everything he was saying.

The synopsis for this play highlighted doing standup around the campfire and lots of therapy, neither of which played a large role in the final presentation. The producers confirm that the show has been adapted based on what works (bureaucracy puppets and Otto), de-emphasizing what didn't work as well (standup). That's one thing I love about Fringe, is how adaptable and trial-and-error each play can be.

The only big miss in this show for me now is the chainsaw sounds. It took me a while to even understand that the sound I was hearing was supposed to be a chainsaw, and I really would have loved a more practical chainsaw sound localized to the prop - even if that's just by sticking a bluetooth speaker on the chainsaw.

Maybe this show would have earned a lower rating earlier in the run, but I saw it near the end, and this version of it is absolutely worth seeing.