THEATRE in Glasgow in the New Year looks to be as inviting as your favourite auntie when she's had three sherries and a wee win at the bingo.

Forget the weather; follow the star in the direction of the city and find yourself luxuriating in the warmth of a very good show.

With the panto costumes back up on the rack, February allows for theatre to play host to some great plays and comedy shows.

At the King's, Barry Humphries' Eat, Pray, Laugh comes to town, with what's said to be the Australian's swan song as Dame Edna Everage.

Fans of Humphries will love it, and Glasgow will benefit from the legend's experience of his recent tour and West End run, with the show really now ready hit the funny bone.

At the same theatre later in the month, Happy Days arrives, the musical based around the Seventies American sitcom.

It will be fascinating to see if the idea works. The producer Amy Anzil was featured in recent documentary The Sound of Musicals, and is funded by £250,000 raised from 345 online investors.

The show stars Ben Freeman, former Sugababe Heidi Range, below, and Cheryl Baker, and the music is by Oscar-winning Paul Williams.

There's also a great curiosity to see The Play That Goes Wrong, given the great reviews it has achieved in the past year.

"Spectacularly funny and accurate; we laughed until the tears ran down," said Joanna Lumley.

Described as Noises Off meets Fawlty Towers, it tells the story of The Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society who attempt to put on a Twenties murder mystery, but everything goes wrong.

At the Citizens in February, the unmissable Glasgow Girls returns. And in March at the same theatre, Rory Bremner, above, is in town to laugh us through the independence debate.

Back at the King's, Glasgow comedy legend Dorothy Paul, right, takes to the stage in March.

And at the Pavilion, the hugely popular (to one half of the city at least) Celts In Seville returns, the title summing up the story quite adequately.

The Tron Theatre in the same month can also boast a comedy legend in the form of Elaine C. Smith.

Elaine and former River City star Jayd Johnson appear in This Wide Night, a play which tells the story of Marie and Lorraine who were once cell-mates. But in the precarious and frightening world outside there are no rules and the play becomes a study of two women with nothing but each other to hold on to.

At the same theatre, the hugely talented Johnny McKnight's Wendy Hoose is staged, "a frank and hilarious sex comedy."

Johnny's play features Laura and Jake who just want sex. Late Friday night drunken sex. Nothing more. No strings attached. However, these two twenty- year-olds, we learn, are searching for love in all the wrong places.

Still on the theme of sex, the Tron follows with Jezebel, by Mark Cantan, described as "A clever comedy about the dumb consequences of hot sex meeting cold statistics." Alan and Robin are a go-getting couple who want to spice up their sex life. Could a threesome be the answer to all their problems?

Back at the King's in April, we can enjoy the return of Grease. Is there a better musical out there with so many great songs?

But what about Scottish songs? The Pavilion in April is set to premiere Jock'n'Roll, the jukebox musical that highlights all the classic Scots songs, from Wet Wet Wet to the Bay City Rollers.

At the same theatre, back for the third time after two sell-out runs, Fifty One Shades of Maggie stars Leah Macrae, right, in this comedy parody of the best-selling book about a couple who become caught up in bondage.

At The Citizens' in May however, the theatrical temperature is turned up with The Libertine. Set in London in the late 17th century, this corset ripper tells the true story of John Wilmot, the second Earl of Rochester.

Wilmot is the Russell Brand of his day, hedonistic poet, playwright and rake whose appetite for women and wine has made him a notorious figure. Yet this most charismatic of sinners is forced to reconsider everything he thinks and feels.

At the Tron in May, Andy Arnold is set to reveal something wondrous with his production of The Tempest, Shakespeare's play featuring magical powers, shipwrecks and revengeful mischiefs.

The major musical event of the year however takes place at the King's in May when Wicked arrives. The West End and Broadway show has been a spectacular success and a Glasgow visit is long overdue.

In June at the same theatre, One Man Two Guvnors returns to town. Glasgow, traditionally doesn't really take to farce, but this show defies expectation.

Later in the year, highlights include The Full Monty at the King's Theatre, in September.

All good. And some great.

But of course meantime, there's the new spring season at Oran Mor, the perfect place to sift for theatrical gold in the city's continuing river of new plays.