Theater: “Glengarry Glen Ross” starring Kieran Culkin

“We’re a dying breed,” says Ricky Roma (Kieran Culkin), one of the three salesmen in “Glengarry Glen Ros

s,” David Mamet’s 1981 play, now packing them in at the Palace Theater.

Truer words were never spoken. As you watch these old-time salesmen bob and weave in their cheap suits, you realize how the world has moved on in 44 years.

Not to say this isn’t a wonderful play 44 years later. But it does require a cast that can deliver Mamet’s staccato dialogue the way he intended. Culkin (“Succession”), Bob Odenkirk (“Better Call Saul”) and podcaster-standup comic Bill Burr succeed beyond all expectations. Including mine.

The plot is simple: three middle-aged salesmen work out of a boiler-room-type office in the Chicago suburbs, selling Florida real estate. The guys don’t negotiate so much as they harangue their prospects into buying land, talking a mile a minute, and never letting the mark get a word in edgewise.

All three actors deserve kudos but Bill Burr is especially good as Dave Moss, the hot-headed, potty-mouthed salesman who prefigures today’s aggrieved white male. Odenkirk, in the role played by Jack Lemmon in the film, brings his Saul Goodman bravado to the character of Shelly, the aging salesman who seems to be losing his touch and fighting to get the quality leads that his younger boss John (Donald Webber Jr.) feels would be wasted on him.

Frankly, Culkin, the youngest of the three, shows the greatest dramatic range. In Act One, his character pretends to lend a sympathetic ear to an innocent diner at the next table in a Chinese restaurant. It seems to work as the guy signs a contract. In Act Two, however, Ricky becomes a malicious, chair-throwing brat whose chance to win a new car goes up in smoke.

Today there are smartphones with apps that make selling real estate as easy as tapping a link or hovering over a QR code. But back in the day, the struggle to “always be closing” (the signature line from this play) was real. No wonder fellow salesman George (Michael McKean) ends the play by groaning “I hate this job.” Is he a loser? Maybe. Is this revival? Anything but. Directed by David Marber (“Leopoldstadt”).

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