Streisand’s Fans Delight in Opening Night in Anaheim : Music: Crowd of about 14,000 includes celebrities, friends. Show features her hits and Broadway favorites.

Met by a warm ovation from a crowd of 14,000 as she took the stage, Barbra Streisand finally launched her long-awaited and much-hyped series of concerts at the Pond of Anaheim Thursday night.

After opening with, “As if We Never Said Goodbye,” she took a few good-natured knocks at rumors that she had faked the bout with laryngitis that led to the rescheduling of her first four Anaheim dates.

She offered a David Letterman-style Top 10 list of reasons why she postponed the shows, including, “I’ve always wanted to spend four hot, muggy days in Anaheim in the middle of July,” and “Every time I’ve tried to get here, I got sidetracked and went to Disneyland instead.”

She then settled into a set mixing Broadway standards and hits spanning her career, chatting amiably between numbers about her life and music.

Her fans had waited a long time for the moment.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” said Sue Clark, 35, of Riverside, who came to the Pond hours early with a friend to pick up their $125 tickets.

Streisand’s performance Thursday night was part of her first tour in nearly three decades, and she said this tour will be her last.

Excitement was especially high because the 52-year-old singer, reportedly suffering last week from viral tracheolaryngitis and under strict orders from her doctor not to talk, much less sing, had postponed four previously announced shows at the Pond, her only stop in Southern California.

The sold-out show attracted fans, celebrities and friends of Streisand from across the country, including actress Brooke Shields and tennis player Andre Agassi. Some arrived in limos, wearing sequined gowns and suits, while others dressed in jeans or shorts.

“I’ve been a fan of Barbra since I was in high school,” said Susan Bratlien of North Dakota. “I’m just so excited, I don’t know what to say.”

Streisand will perform at he Pond again Saturday night. Tickets for the four postponed shows will be honored in July, after Streisand has completed engagements in San Jose and New York City, the remaining cities on her six-stop itinerary.

In announcing the rescheduling, she had issued a statement saying she felt “terrible that these postponements may cause severe scheduling problems for so many who have waited for so long for me to perform live.”

Thursday’s much-anticipated concert involved extra expense and some unusual security measures, which fans didn’t seem to mind. Ticket prices were unprecedented: $350, $125 and $50 each from the box office. Private ticket brokers charged a lot more.

The initial announcement that Streisand would be coming to Southern California turned Los Angeles into a “city of scalpers,” in the words of one ticket broker, although some tickets still were available at face value Wednesday for the Anaheim shows. The singing star is expected to set box office records with a six-night gross from the Anaheim shows likely to top $12 million.

Pond management increased parking fees to $8 from the usual $6. And fans had to temporarily unload their metal belongings into plastic bags and pass through metal detectors, a measure more commonly associated with airports, or at least with concerts by punk-metal bands and hard-core rap acts.

Mighty Ducks hockey fans may have felt out of place in the concession stand areas. Alongside food stands peddling the usual arena nachos, hot dogs and Cracker Jacks were dainty dessert carts offering fresh berries with Grand Marnier ($4) and chocolate truffles (two for $3).

Beverages included a variety of liqueurs in coffee, and champagne at up to $10 a glass.