A new musical about the business of making comedy will open at Hennepin Stages on September 9. Funny Business, the musical with a punchline, gives a behind the scenes look at life and the personalities inside a comedy club.

Directed by Peter Moore, the Minneapolis cast features Ari Hoptman, Julie Weaver, Michael Battle, Carson Lee, Christine Nelson Karki, Joe Lovitt and Bonni Allen. Funneapolis Productions is the producing company. Ken Abdo and Larry Abdo are the Executive Producers.

This production marks the Midwestern premiere of Funny Business which was developed by Los Angeles playwright and composer Hollye Leven. Funny Business was originally developed as a part of the Mark Taper Forum’s prestigious New Work Festival. It then received a workshop production at Washington, D.C.’s Kennedy Center, followed by a world premiere at Los Angeles’s Coronet Theater.

Playwright and composer Leven developed the piece because she considers comedians the oral historians of our time. “Comedians are true artists of our time,” she says. “I saw that there was intriguing potential in a musical in which the stand up comedy voice reveals something that dialogue alone cannot—the same way a song works in a traditional musical.”

The Hollywood Reporter called Funny Business “terrific entertainment…a wonderful evening of wit and music with lots of laughs.” The Los Angeles Times said, “Brisk, spontaneous, unpredictable…an affectionate musical saluting the comedy club scene.” And, The Beverly Hills Courier deemed it a “don’t miss show.”

Preview performances begin September 6 and opening is September 9. The production will run through November 5.