'Wicked' is a winner

Critic Wendell Brock picks the weekend's best.

1. "Wicked" / Grade: B+

We couldn't be happier with the touring company of this Broadway musical, which finds Wicked Witch Elphaba (the superb Carmen Cusask) battling a not-so-wonderful Wizard of Oz and colliding with Good Witch Glinda (the lovely Katie Rose Clarke). This dark and delicious witches' brew is perfect escapism for scary times. Through Nov. 2. Presented by Broadway Across America-Atlanta and the Atlanta Broadway Series. Fox Theatre. 404-817-8700, ticketmaster.com.

2. "The Second City: Too Busy to Hate ... Too Hard to Commute" / Grade: B+

Created by Chicago's famed Second City comedy troupe at the invitation of the Alliance Theatre, the show is a zany Spaghetti Junction revue of song, dance, sketch comedy and improv — purposefully engineered to mock the city's politics, prejudices, flaws, foibles, icons and institutions. Extended through Nov. 2. Alliance Theatre's Hertz Stage. 404-733-5000, alliance.org.

3. "Antigone" / Grade: B

Georgia Shakespeare's Richard Garner and composer Kendall Simpson find the music in the tragedy and terror of the Sophocles classic, about a young woman who defends her fallen brother's honor to the death. Through Nov. 2. Georgia Shakespeare, Oglethorpe University. 404-264-0020, gashakespeare.org.