Columnist Kate Maddox: Roberts tired of Bratty behavior

Kate Maddox

Friday, July 13, 2001 | 4:52 a.m.

Kate Maddox's column also appears Tuesdays and Fridays in the Las Vegas Sun. Reach her at 259-2309 or kmaddox@lasvegassun.com.

It seems Julia Roberts spent at least a little time giving then-beau Benjamin Bratt the old bait-and-switch routine in Las Vegas.

After lamenting to employees at Bellagio that she was constantly being hounded by phone calls from Bratt, who was apparently checking up on her, Roberts found an afternoon escape by having "treatments" booked at the swank hotel's spa.

Some sources say that on one particular day the actress had been busted by Bratt for being MIA. So her assistants did what any good Hollywood helpers would do -- they made up a story.

One member of Roberts' entourage reportedly told the suspicious actor that his girlfriend simply couldn't come to the phone because she was helping herself to an afternoon of personal pampering. A Bellagio insider insists Roberts was, um, busy elsewhere in the hotel, perhaps getting to know her "Ocean's 11" castmates a little better.

Once the phony spa tale placated Bratt, Roberts' publicist apparently called the hotel to make sure the staff stuck to the story. As one source tells it, the discreet Bellagio Spa team assured the flack that they wouldn't breathe a word of the incident.

Well, I guess most of the team assured the flack. The others weren't much for breath-holding.

The buzz on the Roberts-Bratt- George Clooney triangle gets much steamier, if you believe hotel employee gossip. Let's just say Roberts was indeed fixated on a handsome Hollywood hunk -- couldn't stop talking about him, according to sources all over the casino -- but the sexy actor of her affection wasn't Bratt.

It's still going to be a toss-up as to whether Carmen Electra can pull off headlining duties in "Lumiere," but according to the show's plotline it'll be a chance for the "Scary Movie" star to flex those bad-girl muscles.

Electra takes the stage as the Fallen Angel. No, really, that's her character's name. Angel loses her wings (apparently due to, you guessed it, a nasty lightning incident) and falls to the Earth to "commence a journey of redemption." She's accompanied on her singing/dancing escapade by the Master of Illusion (a "magic man"), Lumiere (a jester who doubles as show "ringmaster") and Ladydove (Lumiere's sidekick, a "mysterious mime figure.")

At a Friday press luncheon, Electra told the crowd that it has always been her "dream to be onstage" because she loves the "adrenaline rush." "I can't believe this is happening," gushed the stunning starlet. "I love Vegas!" And with a show like that, so do we.

Details for Aladdin's new nightclub, which will double as "Lumiere's" showroom thanks to retractable seating, were also revealed on Friday.

The "showclub," dubbed Tatou, will consist of three areas: a large central dance space; a swank bar/lounge (a la V Bar at Venetian, a style most casinos are attempting to copy); and a three-story, glass-enclosed mini-club, catering mainly to VIPs and celebrities, overlooking the Bellagio fountains.

Steve Wynn has apparently dummied up some of the old rooms at the Desert Inn to look like guest suites at his yet-to-be-built new venture.

One person who got a sneak peek at the upscale digs said they were "unbelievable" and on par with some of the finest hotel rooms in the world. Gushing aside, the source added the DI models were replicas of what will ultimately be Wynn's finished product, and that the mogul is only allowing close friends and investors the opportunity to get a first look.