“Wilkommen! Bienvenue! Welcome!” With those words, the emcee of the notorious Kit Kat Club in 1929 Berlin invites the audience to join him for an evening. “What good is sitting alone in your room? Come hear the music play! Life is a cabaret, old chum, so come to the cabaret . . .”

The Tony Award-winning musical “Cabaret” is coming to the stage of the Ritz Theatre as part of the Greenville Area Arts Council’s 2009-2010 season.

The curtain rises at 7 p.m., Monday night, February 15.

The storyline revolves around Sally Bowles, a middle-class girl from Chelsea, London, who performs at the Kit Kat Club while enjoying the quite decadent life of pre-WW II Germany.

She shares her life offstage with Cliff Bradshaw, a young American writer, in a boarding house filled with colorful and disreputable characters. The storm clouds are rising as the Nazis gain more and more power, but Sallie, now expecting a child, does her very best to have a good time in spite of it all.

“Cabaret” is the winner of 12 Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Revival. Windwood Productions of New York and Paris, is mounting the Ritz production.

“Windwood always presents quality shows for us. We’ve enjoyed such productions as ‘Gentlemen Prefer Blondes’, ‘Barry Manilow’s Copacabana’, ‘Seven Brides for Seven Brothers’, and other crowd favorites here in the Camellia City courtesy of Windwood,” said GAAC artistic director Nancy Idland.

“I am sure that ‘Cabaret’ will be another excellent offering from these producers.”

Tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for students and are available in advance at The Pineapple and at the box office.