Stage favourites' elevation (4)
I believe the answer is:
step
'stage' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'favourites' elevation' is the wordplay.
'favourites'' becomes 'pets' ('pet' can be a synonym of 'favourite').
'elevation' says the letters should be written backwards.
'pets' back-to-front is 'STEP'.
(Other definitions for step that I've seen before include "Manner of walking" , "Action of the leg" , "Foot movement" , "Stair" , "Second half of quick 20?" .)