Belinda Panelo's Off to Broadway! (pretty soon)

All these VJ reminiscing had me curious about their current whereabouts. Of course we all know Sarah Meier is back in town, married to Banjo Albano with their little party completed by oh-so-cute Kaya. Banj and Sarah currently run their own events production company called Steak. As for KC Montero, all I know is he’s back in Seattle. I haven’t heard any news updates from his BFF Miguel, hehe. I have fabulous news about Belinda Panelo though.

The first time we hung out together in NYC was back in 2003. She just left MTV, and she and Joseph were just starting their new life there. 2 years later, I got to visit the big apple again and of course I met up with her. That was the last time we had a really good conversation. By then, she was already based in Jersey City, married to Joseph Lizardo, and had just given birth to adorable Devon. She mentioned that she was taking acting lessons, and would really want to pursue Broadway!

I was thrilled to hear that. I’ve always believed Belinda was meant for theater. I could even see her in something like Saturday Night Live. She did comedy very well. We did a lot of spoofs for Classic MTV back in the day. Week after week, Belinda and I would churn out wacky sketches, complete with retro costumes bought from Bambang or rented from Camp Suki. I had her transformed into Molly Ringwald in a poufy pink prom gown, The Cure’s Robert Smith, Prince with a real sizeable eggplant inside her pants, Gloria Estefan, Janet Jackson, Paula Abdul, Madonna in the 80s and 90s, and even Sinead O’Connor. Yes, I was able to make her look bald in front of a blue screen. But I think the best spoof we ever made was the Mariah Carey carwash & wet t-shirt sketch. That was really hilarious. We got a lot of e-mail asking for repeats. With a large curly blond wig, a butterfly clip, skimpy denim shorts, and a white wet t-shirt revealing two water filled balloons on her chest, what more could you ask for? I remember doing the shoot at my friend’s house, one of those really old houses down at Hemady Street.

Anyway, point is, even before her debut at the Manila staging of the Vagina Monologues, I always knew she was going to be great in theater. So learning that her acting studies is finally paying off is such a thrill.

In 2006 she became a part of the Vagabond Theater, and participated in the 26th Annual Baltimore Playwrights Festival. She was part of the play “Perpendicular” by Joe Dennison. The review said it provided an interesting and humorous twist on a “play about marriage”. So I guess it was a play within a play. I was delighted to read that the review also said: “Mike Martin (the male lead) and Belinda Panelo made us care, and laugh, at a couple in serious trouble.” That sounded good, right

Also during the same year, she became part of the cast of Catonsville Theatre Company’s staging of “Real Women Have Curves”, the comedy by Josefina Lopez which has been turned into an HBO movie, where the lead was played by America Fererra years before Ugly Betty. The review said: “Belinda Panelo brings surprising depth to perhaps the weakest written character, Rosalie, a pretty girl with a great figure, but an addiction to diet pills.”

Then in 2007, she became part of Run of the Mill Theater’s staging of “Armchair and Picket” by John Conley. It tells the story of a new generation of protester and the advice she receives from her parents. Belinda played the daughter. According to the review: “… this play manages to be both entertaining and thought provoking. Much of that has to do with the cast: Alan Kootsher as the father figure, Donna M. Fox as the mother figure, and Belinda Panelo as the daughter. All three understand the duality of their roles, playing broad stereotypes with tongue firmly in cheek, while still adding enough realism to make their characters grounded and accessible.”

And most recently, Belinda played the lead in one of TMC’s productions for the 27th Baltimore Playwrights Festival, “Gay Deceivers”. (Sa title pa lang, alam mo na kung bakit tinanggap ni Belinda yung role.) I fell off the chair laughing when I found out what the story was all about. In 1909, Belinda plays Tallulah or Tolly, a housewife in a Victorian society amidst the Industrial Age, who invents an ingenious way to supplement her “modest” figure. In short, it was a play about the funny history of breast augmentation. I really found it funny. Oh gosh, it’s so Belinda. I remember that we always make jokes about her lack of mammary glands that she compensates with her really larger than life derriere. This play was perfect for her. And true enough, the reviews were good.

I salute artists like Belinda who did not let criticisms pin her down. She was humble enough to start slow but steadily even just through community theater. Who cares if it isn’t the great white way yet? I think that is more noble than not pursuing the passions of your heart and just come back home to Manila, become a sell-out and make mushy movies.

Belinda also actively supports the projects of HO/PE Film Challenge.
An organization that holds film making competitions for a cause.