The Way She Was.

STREISAND BROKE MONEY RECORD AT NEW YEAR'S BASH

LAS VEGAS -- It's New Year's Eve morning, a dozen or so hours before Bar-bra Streisand is to perform her millennium concert at the MGM Grand, and hundreds of fans have lined up to buy souvenirs outside a casino boutique. The shop doesn't open for another two hours, but the well-dressed crowd doesn't seem to mind. They're willing to wait, just as they were willing to shell out $500 to $2,500 a ticket for the show.

The largely middle-aged crowd is relaxed but clearly excited. A husband and wife work their way through the line, offering to trade $6,000 worth of $500 seats for two $1,500 seats. By noon -- two hours after the iron-gated doors to the shop have opened -- there are still more than 100 fans queued up to buy Streisand T-shirts, sweatshirts, bouquets of white roses, shawls, mugs, baseball caps, posters, programs, photographs, and even Bar-bra Streisand champagne, at $80 a bottle.

Then there are the fans with cameras, still and video. They stop in front of posters of Streisand, pose next to her image and take snapshots of each other. One couple from Virginia is on their honeymoon.

Call it schmaltzy or crazy or at the least foolish for spending money on trinkets and posing for snapshots next to a poster. But not to die-hard Streisand fans. This is going to be a night to remember, and they are willing to pay for it -- tickets, hotel rooms, food and transportation. Some fans bought tickets to both concerts, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.

Record take

The tally for New Year's Eve alone broke the all-time concert record of $13.4 million, set by the three tenors Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti and Jose Carreras on July 20, 1996 at Giants Stadium in New Jersey -- Streisand took in nearly $14.7 million for the first night. Add to that the sales of Streisand merchandise, on which her fans would eventually spend more than $500,000.

Streisand remains an icon, an inspiration. She battled her male bosses to make "Yentl." She stood firm on her political beliefs, supporting Democratic candidates during the Reagan administration. Richard Nixon put her on his enemies' list because she supported George McGovern.

Her fans have had to wait six years since her last concert, and for some there is a sense of urgency about this New Year's Eve. One woman is dying of cancer and has only months to live. She explains that she had to see Streisand perform before she died. A mother and a daughter from Florida say Streisand inspired them to stand up for themselves in business. They, too, just had to see the star.

For all that, there are hints of the temperamental, micro-managing Streisand. Rumors are swirling, for instance, that hotel staff members have been told not to look at Streisand if they encounter her in the hotel or in an elevator. They especially have to avoid her eyes if they see her coming.

"We would be fired," an employee of one of the hotel shops insists. "It's like Lot's wife. If we look at her, we turn into a block of salt."

MGM Grand officials denied the rumors, which were reported by a Las Vegas newspaper columnist, as did Streisand's spokesman. Actually, Streisand and her husband, the TV actor James Brolin, have no need to stroll through the lobby of the MGM or to take public elevators. They have a penthouse duplex with access to private elevators that will whisk them to high-roller suites.

The New Year's Eve concert is scheduled to start at 9 p.m., but many fans start showing up at 7 p.m. to pass through security checks and metal detectors. No recorders or video cameras are allowed. Fans are warned not to take any shots during the performance. The arena goings-on are protected because they're valuable. Streisand expects to release a CD of her concert by February.

Inside the concert hall, which officially seats 13,000, producers have cordoned off a large area where views of the stage are obstructed by a bank of videotape cameras. Streisand and Don Mischer, who co-produced the event with the performer, will spend two months editing the tape into a TV special.

Audience settles in

The concert is reportedly sold out, but there are a few vacant areas. Last-minute Y2K fears have chilled some fans. While stars are often seated in the front row of such highly anticipated concerts, this one isn't star studded. Only the face of James Cam pops out. He played Billy Rose in Streisand's "Funny Lady." Other celebs include Rod Steiger, who arrives in a wheelchair, and comedian Paul Rodriguez.

A few minutes before the concert begins, Streisand's husband shows up and the crowd applauds his arrival in the front row. He waves back. Mere TV-stardom is nothing like this.

Streisand appears on stage at around 9:30 p.m. in a steel-gray pantsuit that clings to her body like an elegant glove. Her opening song is from "The Way We Were."

For the next three hours, she performs an assemblage of hits -- "Alfie," "Evergreen" and "Second Hand Rose." The theme of the show turns personal. She talks about her mother, Diana, who has Alzheimer's disease, and her son, Jason. There is a letter from her father, Emanuel, who died when she was 15 months old. It's a poem to an old girlfriend shown on a giant screen behind her while she sings "Papa Can You Hear Me?"

At midnight, Streisand does a countdown to the millennium, sings "People," and gets a standing ovation as the MGM arena becomes a snowstorm of confetti sprayed into giant hall by air cannons. People kiss, hug. Strangers shake hands and wish each other a happy New Year.

About a half-hour later, she finishes her performance. Camera crews from "Entertainment Tonight," "Access Hollywood" and a Las Vegas TV station hustle for celebrity interviews.

After-concert party

Shortly after 1 a.m., Streisand's duplex becomes jammed with an assortment of guests who want to congratulate the star on her performance. Many have been friends for decades. Some wait more than an hour, as champagne is served from bottles of Moet. A chef slices steak for the guests.

Bill Schneider, the CNN political analyst and friend, drops by to say hello, as does Steiger and Cis Corman, who runs Streisand's production company, Barwood Films.

Margery Tabankin, the political activist from the 1960s who runs Streisand's foundation, stops in. Marty Erlichman, Streisand's longtime manager, beams. He discovered her in a New York nightclub. It was serendipity. He went to see a comic who had just come off the Blacklist and found Streisand, a Brooklyn kid with an amazing voice. He told her she would be great and she asked if he told that to all his prospective clients. He said he didn't. Something must have clicked. She dropped her manager and went with him.

Throughout the party, Streisand stays in another area of the duplex with her husband. Two bodyguards are stationed outside their door and a major domo escorts guests to meet her, one at a time. Meeting her off stage is a surprise. She is a tiny woman.

"Why?" she asks, "do I look so much taller on stage?"

She does. Somehow the power of her voice lifts her. Brolin towers over her as he stands nearby chatting with friends. Streisand herself is surprisingly loose and twirls her necklace when she talks. She admits that she doesn't like performing live. It's too scary. Maybe, she wonders, she'll just be an actress. Woody Allen wanted her in his new movie, but she passed to prepare for the New Year's concerts. Just acting, not directing or producing, is so much simpler. She is looking for simplicity in her life. She says she no longer has anything to prove to herself, the critics or even her fans.

So what transaction did Hollywood's most famous day trader make on New Year's Eve? She sold her stock in Time Warner Inc., but kept her Qualcomm, one of the hot stocks on Nasdaq, which hours before had announced a four-for-one stock split.

"I am up 119 percent over last year," Streisand said.