Harking back to the past in cabaret routine (5)
I believe the answer is:
retro
'harking back to the past' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
I cannot understand how the remainder of the clue works.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for retro that I've seen before include "Type of rocket; backward-looking" , "Backward looking" , "Looking backwards" , "Prefix for old-style" , "recapturing the past" .)