Turning Las Vegas Into Babs-ylon : Pop music: Barbra Streisand’s first paid public concerts in 24 years occur this weekend at MGM Grand. ‘There hasn’t been an event with this type of demand in years,’ says a rival hotelier.

The fortysomething woman wearing the sparkling black Barbra Streisand concert sweatshirt paused during her marathon assault on the quarter slots at the new MGM Grand Hotel.

Standing and stretching near the massive lobby of the $1-billion hotel, casino and theme park, the woman pointed to the $1,100 jackpot total on the machine.

“I’m going to keep at it until I win enough to buy a front-row ticket to Barbra’s show,” she said, good-naturedly.

If the machine pays off, the fan could most certainly score a ticket to one of Streisand’s two shows here this week, but $1,100 isn’t likely to buy her a front-row seat.

Because the New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day shows in the 13,105-seat Grand Garden arena will be the singer’s first paid public performances in 24 years, demand was so strong that all available tickets were sold as fast as they could be processed on Nov. 7--despite a top price of $1,000 and an average price believed to be around $500.

Within hours, ticket brokers in Los Angeles were asking $1,500 and $3,000 for average to good $1,000 seats--with the best of the lot going for $4,000.

That Streisand frenzy was in evidence this week around town.

Fans stood in line outside the entrance to the 5,005-room hotel--the world’s largest--to have their photo taken alongside a large Streisand poster.

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Inside, crowds were huddled at three souvenir stands, tempted by such items as $25 concert programs, $100 bottles of signature champagne and $100 sterling silver, limited-edition key chains. One couple walked away with $470 in merchandise.

It adds up to the most dramatic pop event in town since 1969 when Elvis Presley returned to concerts at the old International Hotel (now the Las Vegas Hilton) after nearly a decade devoted to films.

“There hasn’t been an event with this type of demand in years, including the championship fights,” said Thomas Willer, vice president of marketing for the rival Las Vegas Hilton. “What you have here, as far as concerts go, is the unretiring of a superstar. It’s a blockbuster that is good for all of Las Vegas.”

Though Streisand’s camp and the hotel refused to divulge the singer’s fee for the shows, industry insiders put the figure at around $15 million, from which she has to pay the shows’ sizable production expenses.

The hotel will recoup most of that fee from box-office receipts, which are expected to be about $6 million to $7 million per concert, believed to be the largest gross ever for an arena show in the United States. In addition, the Streisand package gives the hotel enormous publicity and prestige.

Typical of the exposure for the hotel, fitness guru Richard Simmons, who prides himself in being the “world’s greatest Streisand fan,” will report live on Friday’s opening from the hotel for Jay Leno’s “Tonight Show” audience.

As for the hotel’s association with the most celebrated female singer of the modern pop era, Richard Sturm, senior vice president of marketing and entertainment, said: “We’re thrilled. From our perspective, it was the ultimate booking for our grand opening. It created worldwide recognition almost instantly.”

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Despite scattered reports over the last 18 months that Streisand was thinking about returning to formal concerts, the pop world was caught by surprise on Nov. 2 when the MGM Grand announced that she would perform two shows there.

Even hotel executives, apparently, were holding their breaths until the last minute. Though negotiations with the star’s representatives had been going on since before Labor Day, the final contracts weren’t signed until 4 p.m. on the day before the announcement.

Thomas A. Bruny, the hotel’s director of advertising and public relations, recalls the excitement in the executive offices when the final copy of the contract--the one with Streisand’s signature on it--arrived via fax machine that day from Los Angeles.

“There were high-fives and hugs all over the place,” he says of the occasion.

For Marty Erlichman, the star’s manager for most of the past 32 years, the contract represented the end of an even longer dream.

“I was as excited as everybody else because I’m also a huge fan,” Erlichman said. “I really want to hear her sing again in front of people.”

Except for guest appearances at isolated benefit dates, including the AIDS Project Los Angeles “Commitment to Life” gala in late 1992 at the Universal Amphitheatre, and an inaugural salute to President Clinton last January, Streisand hasn’t stepped on stage since 1969 at the International Hotel.

About the eight-time Grammy winner’s reluctance all this time to perform live, her manager said, “Barbra seeks perfection, which is why she has concentrated on films, television and records the last 20 to 25 years.

“You can get close to perfection in those environments because you can redo it, re-shoot it, re-edit it. When you go live, you can’t do any of that. You have to give up perfection and she has said that kind of frightens her. . . .”

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After the actress-director mentioned during a Larry King TV interview early last year that she was thinking of returning to live shows, Erlichman and advisers--including talent agent Rob Light, whose other clients include Bette Midler, Janet Jackson and Michael Bolton--began looking at performance options.

Though Streisand felt “comfortable” during the occasional benefit performances, Erlichman said, plans for a tour proceeded slowly, largely because of time conflicts with possible film projects.

The MGM Grand Hotel relationship began last summer when the hotel’s main owner, Kirk Kerkorian--who also owned the International Hotel when Streisand played there in 1969--offered to donate $3 million to Streisand’s favorite causes.

(The donation, since increased to $3.5 million, was formally announced this week. Of the total, approximately $2 million will go to eight AIDS groups.)

Though there were no strings attached to the donation, Erlichman says that the goodwill gesture caused him to look more closely at the MGM Grand. Streisand had rejected numerous Vegas hotel offers since 1969, but the Grand had an ace up its sleeve.

Instead of playing a showroom, an experience Streisand did not enjoy in 1969, the Grand was offering her an arena, which gives her a chance to test the waters for a possible arena tour in 1994 or 1995.

“We were closer more times to not making a deal than to making it,” said Erlichman, “but in the end, it was a unique blending of the events--a brand-new hotel, Barbra wanting to take a shot at performing live to get rid of her fear and the chance to test the concept of a tour by doing just two nights instead of 50 nights or whatever.”

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Streisand arrived in town Monday to continue rehearsals that had begun earlier in Los Angeles, and Erlichman described her mood as relaxed and comfortable.

Though there was talk in November of a possible live pay-per-view telecast of one of the shows, the idea was eventually rejected. Instead, the concerts are being taped for a possible television special.

“If Barbra, for whatever reason, doesn’t like the (concert) experience, then at least we have immortalized it,” Erlichman said of the video production.

The show is scheduled to start at 8 p.m. both nights and to run at least two hours, featuring songs from throughout the singer’s career--presented in concert fashion rather than in an elaborate, Broadway-style revue. Marvin Hamlisch is musical director for the show, which will feature a 64-piece orchestra.

And what if Streisand enjoys the concert experience?

Gary Bongiovanni, the Fresno-based editor of the concert industry newsletter Pollstar, believes the singer would be a “knockout attraction, able to fill arenas around the country at top Broadway prices.”

Added agent Rob Light: “When the MGM Grand dates were announced, the phone rang off the hook from promoters and arenas around the country and around the world. I’m just hoping she calls Jan. 3 and says, ‘Let’s go.’ ”