Broadway on tour: The four hottest tickets — and one to come

Roots: The 1994 Disney animated feature, based on the bones of Hamlet.

Tour history: Total take is more than $6 billion. It's in the same league as "Wicked" is and what "Hamilton" will surely be. Disney tested the musical at the Orpheum in 1997 and it has been back many times — including a five-week engagement coming up in August.

Why it's a success: The music of Elton John and Tim Rice, and Julie Taymor's direction and groundbreaking use of puppetry, have made this Broadway's undisputed box-office champion.

THE BOOK OF MORMON

Roots: You've seen "South Park," right? Trey Parker and Matt Stone are breathtakingly ruthless, taking risks with taste and satire that few other writers dare. Robert Lopez ("Avenue Q") supplied the music.

Tour history: Its merciless yet oddly earnest sarcasm has saved the bottom line for many a Broadway series. The Hennepin folks have full confidence in booking "Mormon" for three weeks on its third visit here.

Why it's a success: You've seen "South Park," right?

Tour history: Remarkably durable, a money-in-the-bank proposition wherever it plays. Next April it comes to the Orpheum for five weeks, its fifth Twin Cities engagement, including a record-breaking run in 2006.

Why it's a success: You've heard of "The Wizard of Oz?" Plus "Wicked" has maybe the best first-act closer ever.

Roots: The songs of a certain Swedish pop group.

Tour history: Forty countries, more than 60 million people, and $2 billion-plus at the box office make this the most successful jukebox musical ever. It returns in February for its eighth Minneapolis engagement.

Why it's a success: One word, four letters: Abba.

Tour history: It is but a baby. A sit-down production opens in Chicago this fall. A tour is aimed at Los Angeles and San Francisco, and Des Moines has announced for 2017. No word for the Twin Cities, but how can Des Moines get it and not us?

Why it's a success: Miranda's respect for history is painstakingly accurate while his form of telling is radically new. The textbook never came alive like this. Not only is the music fantastic, but the staging and choreography make this show the biggest thing since "The Lion King."