Getting a Kick Out of ‘Pussycat Dolls Live’

The Pussycat Dolls have been something of an underground L.A. phenomenon ever since they debuted at Johnny Depp’s Viper Room in the mid-’90s. Scantily clad and wholesomely steamy, the Dolls--the closest thing to an old-fashioned line of chorus girls since Ciro’s closed down--seem to have touched some atavistic impulse in the hipster club crowd that frequents their shows.

Now, the lush and leggy Dolls, spearheaded by Carmen Electra, a surprisingly nifty little hoofer, can be experienced in all their voluptuous glory in “Pussycat Dolls Live at the Roxy,” a retro revue on Thursdays only at the Roxy on--where else?--the Sunset Strip. The show, such as it is (the whole enterprise lasts less than an hour), offers plenty of vamping and camping and spirited thrusting by women with the most gravity-defying bodies this side of a Vargas painting.

Director Kristin Hanggi, whose recent stagings of “bare” and “Corpus Christi” gained wide attention, and choreographer-creator Robin Antin, the founder and driving force behind the Dolls, have gift-wrapped a slick and streamlined package with appropriately glitzy and well-rendered design elements. Particularly striking are the tight and glittering costumes by Antin, Kathleen Fischer and Deborah Lindquist. Skimpy affairs featuring plenty of leather and wisps of lace, the outfits stay magically in place--if just barely--throughout the aerobic dance maneuvers.

Musical numbers alternate from the down and dirty (“Bump & Grind,” “The Stripper”) to the playful (“All I Do Is Dream of You”) and feature the same sultry dancing you might see on any MTV video. The problem with any chorus line is that it is typically only trotted out between the headline acts. In “Dolls,” there is no headline entertainer, a void that even the lithe Electra or the formidably poised Christina Applegate, one of the show’s alternating celebrity hosts, cannot fill.

But of course, the point of this evening is cheesecake, cheesecake and more cheesecake, with whipped cream and a cherry on top. If you have philosophical objections to beautiful women bumping and grinding to beat the band, this isn’t your ticket. If not, you might find “Dolls” worth a peek.

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“Pussycat Dolls Live,” Roxy, 9009 W. Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood. Thursdays only, 9:30 p.m. Ends May 30. $20-$35. (310) 278-9457. Running time: 45 minutes.