Too long or not too long? That was the question when Julian Chenery and Matt Gimblett had to rethink the running time of their Shakespeare 4 Kidz musical adaptation of Hamlet.

In the end they decided it was too long for its young target audience so one of the big numbers, To Be a Man, ended up on the proverbial cutting room floor.

But that wasn’t the end of the road for the song. They entered it for the Stephen Sondheim/Stiles & Drewe song competition which took place at London’s Playhouse Theatre on Sunday.

Judges and audience alike loved it: and the song was announced as runner-up.

The joint competition is designed to recognise the best student performer and the best song in a new British musical.

RADA’s Michael Peavoy won the Sondheim competition with Finishing the Hat from Sunday in the Park with George and raised the roof with his sensational performance of To Be a Man from S4K’s Hamlet.

A delighted Julian Chenery said: “Judging from the reaction the song and its performance received in the theatre, To Be a Man would have been a clear winner if chosen by an audience vote.”

The judges, George Stiles and Antony Drewe, had previously seen “anonymous” lyric and piano vocal sheets of each piece and were able to spend some time before the day of the event pondering the lyrical and musical merits of each candidate.

Commenting on the song on behalf of the judges, George Stiles said: “We were very impressed with Matt Gimblett and Julian Chenery’s To Be a Man from Shakespeare 4 Kidz Hamlet. Here was a powerful ballad in a traditional format and you should remember that it is written for a young target audience who would clearly connect to it. It certainly hit the mark!”

The winner of the Stiles & Drewe prize was Olly Ashmore with Wake Up TV, a Two Ronnies-style comedy patter number from the new musical Hot Flush 2.

Ends