Four minutes of animation is epic!

When you save the scene file the cloth simulation should save as well.  You shouldn't have to re-simulate the dynamic cloth again.  As far as saving the cloth pose I don't think that is possible.  I cheat sometimes and export the dynamic cloth as an OBJ file.  With the character in pose, re-import the Wavefront object and parent it to the character's chest.  Then you can save it to the prop library ...

As far as saving a pose for a prop I don't think that is possible.

Love to see your animation,
Rªnce