acidulous

People often quote the acidulous writer H.L.

But I was dying to see what she’d do with Joanne, the role originated by Elaine Stritch, who long owned the character’s acidulous second-act number, “The Ladies Who Lunch.”

By 1961, another critic for the Times, Howard Taubman, was pronouncing the musical “wonderful” and “vivid proof of what a great musical can be,” declaring that “its disenchanted, acidulous mood conforms well with the realism, if not cynicism, of our day.”

Sharp observations like these show us glimpses of the acidulous social satirist of Hollywood’s Golden Age.

In his review of the season for The New York Times, Mike Hale called the show “one of the most twisted, acidulous and sex-drenched” romantic comedies on TV, writing that Wednesday’s finale “answers the questions and satisfies the emotions without short-selling the serious issues.”