Leah Salterio

How Vino and Benedix juggle theater and films

January 25, 2025 Leah C. Salterio 116 views
Ramos
Benedix Ramos
Mabalot
Vino Mabalot

ACTORS Vino Mabalot alternates with Benedix Ramos for the role of Gabe Goodman in “Next To Normal.”

The first time the 24-year-old Vino heard about “Next To Normal” was with the Ateneo Blue Repertory staging in 2020. “Of that cast, there were Davy Narciso, Jam Binay and Jef Flores,” Vino shared. “All of them were also in this cast. I didn’t know about the musical yet at that time.

“I realized when I joined this latest production, ‘Next To Normal’ was really serious, mabigat. It was an invite-only audition and it was the associate director (Mark Dalacat) who invited me to join the rounds of audition.

First, Vino auditioned for the characters of Gabe and Henry in November last year. “I didn’t know about ‘Next To Normal’ so I was more excited than challenged,” Vino admitted. “I was just happy that I was doing this new theater project.”

Since he also attends Ateneo de Manila University, Vino’s maiden musical was “The Addams Family,” with the Ateneo Blue Repertory. He was only 16 when he played Lucas, the love interest of Wednesday Addams.

After that experience, Vino’s theater projects “snowballed” and assignments came one after the other. He is still part of Star Magic, where he has done a few teleseryes, like “Viral Scandal” and “Huwag Kang Mangamba,” his pandemic projects.

“Aside from musicals, I started doing more straight plays,” he shared. “After ‘The Addams Family,’ I did ‘Batang Rizal’ for Ateneo Entablado in 2017. Next was an adaptation of a children’s play, ‘Ang Pitong Gunggong, (2018), another musical by Ateneo Entablado.

Vino joined “Fluid” by Floy Quintos (2014), “Dekada ’70: Isang Musikal” was his first professional theater experience (2020) before the pandemic started, then he was cast in “Tabing Ilog.”

“I focused on theater and I have yet to finish my college course at Ateneo de Manila University,” Vino said. “I took up Communications Technology, major in Management. I was in second year when I stopped, although I still plan to pursue my college course.

“I’m just trying to stay stable in my career and I still plan to finish college. That’s still part of my long-term goals to finish my education.”

Although he has done theater and TV, Vino expressed his desire to do full-length films. “I’ve done a few short films,” he said. “But film and TV are different creative processes which as still alien to me.”

He wants to experience the classics, like Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” which is part of his bucket list. “I’m not sure if I can tackle a Shakespeare role already or I’m still too young for it. Eventually, that’s my goal. Shakespeare gives a different level of training to experience the classics.”

He’s done one Shakespeare production, “Richard III,” directed by Anton Juan and the late Ricky Abad.

“I learned from my mentor (Ron Capinding) that 90 percent of acting is clarity,” said Vino. “Clarity of speaking, gesture and the text,” he maintained. “So far, he has been successful in doing that in his musicals and plays.

“If I can say one thing about my performances and past musicals, my characters were clear. Aside from Sir Ron, I look up to Sir Jerry Respeto and other theater directors that I worked with when I was still in college.”

While rehearsing for “Next To Normal,” Benedix Ramos had to excuse himself for a week to shoot a Taiwanese film with a working title that will be shown early next year.

He is playing the son of Angel Aquino, an OFW (Overseas Filipino Worker). The film was shot in English, Tagalog and Hakka dialect spoken in Taiwan.

Benedix is an actor, singer-songwriter, commercial model, host and content creator managed by Star Hunt/Star Magic ABS-CBN. Since he joined “Pinoy Big Brother” in 2021.

A vibrant theater talent, his recent credits include “Bar Boys,” “Tabing Ilog” “Ang Huling El Bimbo.”

Early last year, Benedix joined the cast of the hit musical adaptation, “Bar Boys,” where he essayed the role played by Carlo Aquino in the film version. Back in 2023, Benedix was cast in the re-run of “Ang Huling El Bimbo,” where he played the young Anthony.

“That was my first theater experience,” shared Benedix about “Ang Huling El Bimbo.” “I was an understudy although I never got the chance to sing and perform onstage. We had a principal cast.”

They were merely on standby and never got to go onstage even for one performance. “That was the job I signed up for, so that was fine with me. During that time, I was still very, very scared and unprepared.

“Maybe God did it on purpose not to make me appear onstage. He knows I was not prepared yet. I was already 28 at that time.”

Benedix was admittedly not familiar with “Next To Normal” when he was first asked to audition last year. He’s playing Gabe Goodman, alternating with Vino Mabalot. Benedix is the son of Diana played by Sheila Valderrama Martinez and Nikki Valdes.

“I had to research about it and watched some clips for reference,” said Benedix. “I had to take some crash course for my role. I didn’t grow up watching theater plays since in the province in Pangasinan (Dagupan), there were no plays where I was born and raised.”

In the pandemic, Benedix received a role to do a six-part series in a Boys Love project directed by Carlo Obispo back in 2020. “I started acting then and I learned so much about acting,” Ramos said. “Our creatives there were very good. I got to love about acting.”

One of his mentors was director Zig Dulay, who megged “Green Bones” (2024) and “Firefly” (2023). He uprooted to Manila also in 2020, then discovered Kumu and also became a housemate in “Pinoy Big Brother (PBB).”

He described his stint in “PBB” as life-changing. “I felt very fortunate to have that PBB experience and opportunity,” Benedix said. “I was inside Bahay ni Kuya for 57 days. From ‘PBB,’ so many doors have opened. After I went out of ‘PBB,’ my projects didn’t stop.

“I feel blessed because even after I got out of the house, I got constantly busy. I got to venture into a lot of different things. I was able to try theater.

“After a month when I got out of the house, I got my first teleserye with Dreamscape, ‘Love in Forty Days,’ with Loisa (Andalio) and Ronnie (Alonte).”

In theater, Benedix dreams of playing “Dear Evan Hansen,” his dream role in a stage musical. While in film, he goes for a titular character.

“It’s so nice to say that the story revolves around your character,” said Benedix. “That’s one of my dreams.”

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