‘Shauna Hicks’ a Dose of Pure Cabaret

“Shauna Hicks and Her 60’s Chicks” takes you on a musical jaunt down memory lane with Shauna Hicks, a gamin with a powerhouse voice. Though barely knee-high to a miniskirt during the 1960s, Hicks was heavily influenced by the era’s popular songs, from Petula Clark’s to Glen Campbell’s. Her nostalgic set at the Hudson Backstage is pure cabaret, sans only cocktail waitresses and the tinkle of ice cubes.

Perky but biting, Hicks interlaces her sometimes desultory musical meanderings with feminist commentary. Growing up in the ‘60s, Hicks took many of her social cues from television role models. These models mirrored the period’s great social flux, as Hicks demonstrates in her witty impersonation of Mary Tyler Moore metamorphosing from the perfect wife of “The Dick Van Dyke Show” into the independent career woman of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.”

Todd Schroeder provides lively accompaniment to Hicks’ song snippets, which pair the sweetly sentimental (“Everyday Housewife”) with the spectacularly sexist (“Wives and Lovers”). “Just a Housewife,” the only number Hicks performs in its entirety, is beautifully sustained and moving. Perhaps a few more full-on numbers would flesh out this too-brief show, which in its present form seems inadequate to encompass Hicks’ formidable talent.

* “Shauna Hicks and Her 60’s Chicks,” Hudson Backstage, 6539 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood. Wednesdays, 8 p.m. Indefinitely. $15. (213) 660-8587. Running time: 1 hour.