OF GOOD STOCK @MTC is Packed with Great Stuff

OF GOOD STOCK is a family comedy/drama the circles around & collides with the 3 Stockton sisters: Jess, Celia & Amy.  Three sisters who love each other but they don't always (hardly ever) like each other.  Jess is married, Amy engaged and Celia pregnant with her new "dude."  Amy is played by B'wy  & film star Alicia Silverstone.  Silverstone played her role with precociousness that was wearing.  Heather Lind (Merchant of Venice v. Al Pacino) as Celia, the funny & impetuous sister was winning.  The girls & their guys are gathering at the family home in Cape Cod to celebrate Jess' birthday.  Playwright Melissa Ross has written a verbose play which swings between annoying & adorable.  In between, the play connects with family dysfunction, sibling dynamics & male/female relationships.  Topics of mortality & legacies felt overburdened  I tottered towards disliking this contemporary take of King Lear's 3 daughters fighting to claim their stake when I was struck by how funny and close to home the family fueds faired.  The high point placed the 3 inebriated sisters altogether on their pier to pour forth their rants along with their dad's $2,000 bottle of scotch and a 3 carot diamond engagement ring tossed in for extra bling.  The sister's ganging up on each & their own self-critique was brilliant.  The heart to heart cancer talk between Jess & her husband felt forced.  The play continuously teeters between silly and sentimental.  Still, OF GOOD STOCK is full of the stuff that makes for an entertaining play that asserts to seize the day.