In the following excerpt, Kroll offers a mixed review of Glengarry Glen Ross, asserting that in "trying to wed the uncompromising vision of moral primitivism in [his earlier play] American Buffalo with a more accessible, even commercial appeal," Mamet introduces "elements of relatively conventional plotting and farce that occasionally wobble; the resolution of the real-estate-office rip-off doesn't quite ring true." Nevertheless, Kroll declares that "in all other respects Mamet is better than ever."

"It's contacts, Ben, contacts!" says Willy Loman. "Give me the leads!" exhorts Shelly (The Machine) Levene in David Mamet's dazzling new play, Glengarry Glen Ross. Willy dies the death of a salesman; Shelly says, "I was born for a salesman," but then suffers a fate that's a kind of grotesque counterpart to the ignominious end of Willy. Mamet's play is a funny and frightening descent into the Plutonic world of sleazy hucksters who peddle...