Mariah Plans to Put Career Back on Track

By Stephen M. Silverman

06/24/2004 at 08:00 AM EDT

Mariah Carey is seriously refocusing what has been a bumpy career, reuniting with her former talent agency, Creative Artists, and aiming to put the disappointments of the movie Glitter and her under-performing album Charmbracelet, behind her, says the Hollywood Reporter.

Despite having sold 150 million albums worldwide since 1990, Carey, 34, is not just sticking with singing, the trade paper reports. She is currently writing an illustrated children's book about a biracial orphan girl, with an eye to turning the tome into an animated series.

"The children's (project) is a very natural step," agent Rob Light tells the Reporter. "It's something she's worked on without the help of ghostwriters. She has a whole idea based on her biracial heritage; she thinks there is a huge audience."

A previously announced theatrical project – The Prince and the Showgirl, to play London's West End – is still in the works for her to star in early next year, according to Light.

Carey's manager, Benny Medina, also says the office of Andrew Lloyd Webber (Cats, The Phantom of the Opera) has expressed interest in working with Carey on Broadway.

As Light says of Carey: "For everything she's done to this point – she's been credited as being an incredible vocalist – but everything else, from acting to songwriting, kind of gets pushed down. Our goal is to just take the lid off that talent and let people know who she is."