Parents think big for bat mitzvah

In the one-upsmanship capital of the world, Erica Jill Fieldman's bat mitzvah might have set the bar.

For starters, her parents, Showcase mall developer Barry and Amy Fieldman of Henderson, rented the cavernous Fashion Show mall on Saturday from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. and transformed it into a fashion-themed takeoff of "The Devil Wears Prada."

Erica, an aspiring designer, and 100 of her mostly preteen friends made a grand entrance on a purple carpet lined with actors portraying paparazzi and media hounds.

When the 12-year-old entered, photos from her childhood and a recent fashion shoot flashed on three large screens, with her pink-logoed fashion design label, E. Jill. Purple and pink are her daughter's favorite colors, her mother said.

Professional models, friends and family appeared in an Erica-helmed fashion show, with her daughter playing "the bitch fashion designer" to the hilt, the mother said.

At the end of the fashion show, confetti cannons erupted, and Erica received the traditional bouquet of roses.

The more than 300 guests sat at dinner tables featuring prominent designers. Models wore tablelike attachments topped with desserts.

Females dancers performed inside transparent bubbles while the runway doubled as a dance floor. Another area was transformed into a speakeasy for the children.

Witnesses estimated the coming-of-age extravaganza, planned by LT Eventions and catered by Wild Truffles, might have cost more than $500,000.

Fortunately, said Amy Fieldman, it is their last mitzvah. For their oldest son, Michael, they had an skating rink set up in a ballroom at the Rio. Another son, Kyle, a horse lover, was treated to a hoedown for 200 at Sandy Valley Ranch.

SMALL WORLD DEPARTMENT

During Sunday's private sneak preview of "The Sopranos" at Planet Hollywood Resort, I assumed the large guy seated next to me and with "Sopranos" star Lorraine Bracco was her bodyguard.

Then Jason Cipolla and I got to chatting.

When my sportswriting days in Denver came up in the conversation, a smile lit up his face. Cipolla wanted to know whether I covered the NCAA basketball Western Regionals in Denver in 1996.

Turns out his last-second shot in regulation sent Syracuse into overtime against Georgia, and John Wallace's three-pointer won it with 2.8 seconds left. Syracuse went all the way to the NCAA championship, before losing to Kentucky and coach Rick Pitino, who tried to recruit Cipolla.

When our conversation turned to "Soprano" Steve Schirripa of Las Vegas, Cipolla, who works on the HBO show and is Bracco's boyfriend, said, "You're not going to like the show tonight."

Then he showed me a text message from a friend back East: Schirripa's character, Bobby "Bacala" Baccalieri, had just been killed off.

SIGHTINGS

Johnny Depp, stopping in David Burke Modern American Cuisine in The Venetian for a libation Sunday ... Harrah's headliner Rita Rudner, hosting a princess party for daughter Molly's fifth birthday on Sunday at Little Divas. "Hair, nails and a fashion show. I'm sure it's going to come up in therapy at some point," said Rudner, who bought Molly a miniature castle. More than a dozen little princesses were in attendance, she said. No princes? "There will be no princes for at least 25 more years."... Richard Roeper, film critic and Chicago Sun-Times columnist, having a Heineken Light at Red Square in Mandalay Bay on Sunday night. ... Toni Braxton and Adrienne Curry, partying Sunday at Light nightclub in Bellagio after dining with separate parties at Bellagio's Fix restaurant.

THE PUNCH LINE

"Frankenstein Crowned Miss South Dakota" -- From Jay Leno's headlines (Edgemont Herald-Tribune)

Norm Clarke can be reached at 383-0244 or norm@reviewjournal.com. Find additional sightings and more online at www.normclarke.com.