EXCLUSIVE: Read it here first...

Breaking! What's Next for Rosie?

Wed., Apr. 25, 2007 10:44 AM PDT by Marc Malkin

Rodriogo Varela/WireImage.com, James Devaney/WireImage.com

Now that Rosie O'Donnell is saying goodbye to The View, she could be saying hello to the Great White Way.

I'm told O'Donnell is still hard at work developing a Broadway play for herself, in which she would star opposite Danny Aiello. It was first announced that O’Donnell and Aiello would open Alexander Dinelaris’ intense drama Folding the Monster in fall 2005.

Sources tell me part of O’Donnell’s renegotiations with ABC included her request to have enough time away from the talk show to work on the play.

Even so, there are some in O’Donnell’s camp who worry about her diving into such a heavy piece, especially considering Broadway’s eight-times-a-week performance schedule. Rosie has made no secret about her very real battle with depression. “Who knows what could happen with Rosie in the play,” a source recently told me. “Her character’s story includes a lot of dark family secrets. Could Rosie handle going there every night?”

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This wouldn’t be O’Donnell’s first foray onto the boards. She starred in musicals like Seussical, Grease and Fiddler on the Roof. She also coproduced the much publicized Taboo, a quirky musical starring former Culture Club frontman Boy George.

But not all is dark and gloomy for Ms. O’Donnell. The Big Gay Sketch Show comedy series she helped develop and produces premiered last night on the Logo network.