Happy families, Tolstoy mused, are all alike — it’s the messy, miserable ones we love to watch. So are great dramas born, from “King Lear” through “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” and “August: Osage County.”

“Blood From a Stone,” which opened last night, ushers in a new season of dysfunctional family feuds — each notable for sparks and star power. Here’s what all the shouting’s about.

BLOOD FROM A STONE

by Tommy Nohilly

Setting: Blue-collar town in Connecticut

Props: A sofa loaded with laundry, ceiling tiles that tumble when it rains

Star power: Ethan Hawke and Natasha Lyonne are brother and sister; Daphne Rubin-Vega’s the dish next door.

Black sheep: A lying, cheating, gambling younger brother

Family saying(s): Riffs on the rear end, a la “I’ll give him fur up his a – – ” and “Blow it out your a – – .”

Through Feb. 19 at Acorn@Theatre Row

OTHER DESERT CITIES

by Jon Robin Baitz

Setting: A cushy spread in Palm Springs, Calif.

Props: Several sectionals and a cocktail cart chock-full of booze

Star power: Stockard Channing and Stacy Keach as rich, Republican mom and dad; Linda Lavin as a liberal, recovering-alcoholic aunt

Black sheep: The writer daughter who rattles the skeletons in everyone’s closet.

Family saying: Lavin’s Aunt Silda: “I am going to have to learn how to deal with you now that I’m sober.”

Opening tomorrow at Lincoln Center’s Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater

THREE SISTERS

by Anton Chekhov

Setting: A provincial town not far from Moscow

Key prop: A mechanical spinning top, which keeps moving and goes nowhere, just like the sisters (“Next year, Moscow!”).

Star power: Brooklyn’s royal couple, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard

Black sheep: Several, including Masha (Gyllenhaal), the sister who has a fling with Sarsgaard’s commanding officer

Family saying: “What difference does it make?” — repeated 22 times

Opening Feb. 3 at Classic Stage Company