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John Barrowman is a big fan of pantomime. You can tell, from the fact that he bounds out to a gathering of media, and children from his old primary school, in full glittering panto costume.

And it's only May, for goodness' sake.

Barrowman has made appearing in panto something of a tradition. This is his sixth, but the first in Glasgow, and the biggest pantomime promoters Qdos Entertainment have done anywhere.

Their 3D Aladdin will play to 3,000 people a night in the Clyde Auditorium, which with 46 performances, means they have a whopping 138,000 tickets to sell.

No mean task in a country like Scotland, with a long tradition of pantomime, and audiences loyal to particularly theatres and performers.

Qdos managing director Michael Harrison knows that better than most. Just a few years back, he was director of the King's panto, starring Elaine C Smith and Gerard Kelly. Now in a spot of poacher turned gamekeeper, he'll be hoping to win over some of those panto fans.

Partly, he believes, that'll be down to the show's scale - and its 3D technology. We're given a sneak preview at the launch, and it's pretty impressive, perhaps even better than the cinematic version, with volcanic rocks spinning through the audience, spiders dangling over our heads and bats flapping through the auditorium. Barrowman is even upstaged at one moment, by a brazen 3D genie.

Barrowman, they promise, will also fly over the audience on a magic carpet.

But the show also employs more traditional weapons - the Krankies for example, who'll return to the Glasgow pantomime stage for the first time since Jeanette Krankie was seriously injured in a pantomime at the Pavilion.

Don't underestimate the following they command in panto circles, and I'm told their tribute to Subo, seen on stage in Wolverhampton last year, is likely to make a return.

But it's homecoming boy Barrowman, who the promoters believe will be their most important weapon in selling out the show before the summer is over (they started selling tickets last December).

His previous shows in Birmingham and Cardiff broke all previous box office records, and with a forthcoming appearance as a villain in Desperate Housewives, a new series of Tonight's The Night, made here in Scotland, and two pantos a day from December 11th, it's going to be a busy year.

And as he posed for photos with pupils from his old school - Mount Vernon Primary - he was quick to point out that it was there it all began.

"I used to line everyone up in the playground," he said, "and I'd say, you're all appearing on Opportunity Knocks and I am Lena Zavaroni."