Near the top of the list would be "giving up the day job" to concentrate on creative activities. Above that, the dream would be to have their play performed in a major theatre. Top of the list would be having the play performed by professionals in front of professionals like Don Black, Sir Tim Rice, Joel Grey , Arlene Phillips, Jeremy Sands and Dan Crawford.

The Vivian Ellis Prize encompassed all the dreams, as it whittled down 144 musical plays and brought extracts from five of them to the stage of the world famous Theatre Royal Drury Lane, in the heart of London. Leading the team of Directors for each work, was Martin Connor of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, which hosted most of the earlier 13 events. On stage, Nichola McAuliffe, Peter Polycarpou, Frances Ruffelle and Gary Willmott were outstanding and most easily recognised.

I have attempted to crystallise the judging panels remarks on each work.

AN EXCELLENT MUSICAL ADVENTURE
By Dean Collinson,  Gene Jacobs  and Mick Walsh
"Needs a thread or a theme, but has great music and is a charming, imaginative piece."

CHINA SONG
By Gary Carpenter  and  Simon Nicholson
"We think it's great - a good idea which could become the first Chinese musical which really, really works.

DEARLY BELOVED
By Robert Styles  and  Timothy Higgs
"Creepy, black humour.  Pay now, die later is a great concept, but we don't think the Anerican public is ready for it, just yet."

SENSATION
By Alex Loveless
"A good original story which will become even better with polishing, or collaboration, on the book."

IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE
By Steve Nimmon
"Redemption from life changing errors is a strong plot line, which made the film so successful. Musically very strong."

The awards reflected the dominance of  Carpenter and Nicholson's  CHINA SONG, but several other teams will move on to great future's in creative writing and composition.

WINNERS

The Ticketmaster Award for Most Promising Composer.   Dean Collinson for AN EXCELLENT MUSICAL ADVENTURE.

The Herbert Kretzmer Award For Most Promising Lyricist.   Simon Nicholson for CHINA SONG.

The Award For Most Promising Bookwriter.   Simon Nicholson for CHINA SONG.

The Vivian Ellis Award For Most Promising Musical.   CHINA SONG   and DEARLY BELOVED, jointly.

The Warner/Chappell Prize  For Music.   Gary Carpenter for CHINA SONG.

The Judges Discretionary Prize For Promising Newcomer.   Alex Loveless for SENSATION and Steve Nimmon for IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE.

I wouldn't wish to end this review without complimenting the backers of this, the most prestigious of all the 14 Vivian Ellis Prize competitions.

Rose-Morris, Warner/Chappell and the Performing Rights Society  have all strengthened their support by providing office accommodation and more money. Stoll Moss Theatres could not have offered a better venue. It was fabulous.  The omnipresent Cameron Mackintosh's influence never  falters, and hopefully the other main sponsors, Ticketmaster, First Night Records and Tiffany & Co, will be rewarded before they get to heaven.

Noticeably, three great musical theatre writers, Don Black, Herbert Kretzmer and Willy Russell were closely involved - putting something back to encourage new musical writers and composers.

Lastly, I applaud Chris Grady, the organiser, whose commitment to the growth of good British musical theatre is as strong as anyone else I know. His unquenchable spirit will pull out the inherent genius of our native talents.

You can't ask for more than that.

John Timperley