After dropping hints through her Web site last month

that the upcoming North American leg of her

Charmbracelet Tour 2003 would undergo a surprising

change, Mariah Carey has announced exactly that.

The sultry singer unveiled dates on Friday for her

revamped Charmbracelet Tour 2003 - An Intimate

Evening, a 20-city trek across the U.S. and Canada that

trades in the ambition of gigantic arenas for the

intimacy of much smaller theaters.

Carey's coast-to-coast tour will be her first in

theater-sized venues. In April, she announced dates

for the original Charmbracelet Tour 2003, targeting

arenas that typically house between 10,000 and 20,000

fans (see [article id="1471917"]"Mariah Carey Scraps Arena Tour, Opts To Get More Intimate"[/article]).

"It's much more intimate so you'll feel like you had

an experience," Carey said during

rehearsals for her live show on Friday. "You

experience a night with me."

Carey's dates and venues in Asia, where her tour kicks

off on June 21 in Seoul, South Korea, will remain as

scheduled. Her North American tour begins July 26

at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. According to a Carey spokesperson, the singer will be

filling in for fellow diva Celine Dion, who will be

taking a night off from her five-shows-a-week,

three-year contract with the hotel venue.

Altering plans isn't necessarily a new idea for Carey.

In May, she announced the re-release of her recent

Charmbracelet album, which was originally released

in December 2002 as the first album of her

multimillion-dollar deal with Island Def Jam. It will

now be repackaged for a July 29 street date with four

new songs (see [article id="1472062"]"Mariah Carey Adding Some New Charms To Her Bracelet"[/article]).

Currently, Carey is near the top of the charts thanks

to her collaboration with Busta Rhymes on his hit

single "I Know What You Want," but her tour, she

said, will not feature a litany of special guests.

Carey promised a more theatrical performance than she's

done in the past saying the show "doesn't take itself

so seriously."

Through her Web site, Carey is asking fans to vote on songs they

most want to hear her sing when she comes to their

town. "I wanted to gauge what the fans really, really

want to hear and what are they kinda over," Carey

explained. "Are they going to be sick of 'Hero'? Do

they want to hear it still? It's #2 [so far]."

Visitors to her site can log in and select up to 20 of

their favorites amongst her 15 #1 hits and other

songs.

Charmbracelet Tour 2003 - An Intimate Evening dates, according to Carey's spokesperson :

• 7/26 - Las Vegas, NV @ Caesar's Colosseum

--Joseph Patel, with additional reporting by [article id="1453175"]John Norris[/article]