The musical “Disaster!” arrives Friday at 2nd Street Theater in Bend. It turns out the 1980 comedy classic “Airplane” is not the last word in great spoofs of the 1970s disaster film genre.

Of course, Jack Plotnick and Seth Rudetsky, the creators of “Disaster!” take a different, more tuneful tack with their riff on the genre. In an idea so ripe it’s a wonder it took until 2012 to hit the stage, “Disaster!” weds the familiar tropes of 1970s disaster movies — think “The Poseidon Adventure,” “Towering Inferno” and any number of “Airport” movies — to the folk, pop and disco tunes of the era. Lesser musicals have been built on shakier ground.

Speaking of shaky ground, “Disaster!” is set in 1979 aboard a floating casino and disco in the Hudson River. It’s tied to a pier that was built on a fault line. What could possibly go wrong?

Plenty, according to obligatory hand-wringing nerd Professor Ted Scheider (played by Joshua Harrison). Scheider warns that the footfalls of dancers on the boat are apt to trigger an earthquake. As reasonable pleas from nerds are wont to do in stories, his dire warning goes unheeded. That’s bad, perhaps, for the voyagers, but great news for the plot.

At a Broadway-style preview last week at 2nd Street Theater, the production’s director, Dennis T. Giacino, gave his quick-take summary of “Disaster!”

“You take all those Irwin Allen 1970s disaster flicks, and you put them to music,” he said. “So ‘The Towering Inferno,’ ‘Poseidon Adventure,’ ‘Earthquake,’ and then you sing. What do you sing?’”

“Disco hits!” interjected Fiely Matias, who serves as directorial consultant on the show.

“You sing ’70s songs, what else?” Giacino said. “So it’s Manilow, it’s Donna Summer, it’s Lionel Richie, it’s the Bay City Rollers.”

If their names ring a bell, you may have taken in last year’s “Disenchanted!” at 2nd Street. Giacino and Matias co-created the show about fed-up fairytale princesses.

Besides uncannily similar titles replete with exclamation points, the two shows share a similar “tongue-in-cheek, wink-with-the-audience kind of presentation,” Giacino told GO! Magazine. “That similar, just short of campy, comedy. … That same pop-culture referential kind of feel that ‘Disenchanted!’ has. (It’s) right up our alley.”

The two loved 2nd Street Theater’s production of their show, as well as Bend. When Giacino learned via Facebook that Sandy Klein of 2nd Street had enjoyed a production of “Disaster!” at Actor’s Cabaret of Eugene, which she says is comparable in size to 2nd Street, Giacino quickly expressed his wish to come back to Bend, this time as a director.

“I said, ‘If you’re ever considering doing ‘Disaster!’ let me know.’ Because it’s a show we’ve wanted to direct, and saw off Broadway and on Broadway, and we have a sort of slight connection to it anyway. One of our friends was a producer and investor on Broadway for it, and his partner happens to be one of the co-writers of the show.”

“She said, “I’ll do it,’” Giacino recalled. “It was that fast. And we’re very excited.” The two came from Portland to live in Bend for a couple of months while working on the musical.

Even prior to that, Giacino and Matias came to town to cast the show, in which Megan Flanagan leads as chanteuse Jackie. Matthew Vigil appears as the requisite womanizer, and Rachel Thompson and Ken McClintock share time and tunefulness as the aging but still smitten Shirley and Maury. Several other faces you may recognize round out the ensemble.

“We think we’ve got a really good cast,” Giacino said. “I know you expect a director to say that, but I can honestly say that. … Megan Flanagan’s got a great voice. She’s just funny playing the bubble-headed chanteuse. Craig Chisholm as her son and daughter is a great local talent. We think we’ve got 15 really talented people.”

Last but not least, costumer Sydnee O’Loughlin’s contribution in the loud polyester clothes department, and the bright makeup, big hair by Marcy Mooney, cannot be overlooked. A pair of working slot machines have even been procured to flesh out the floating casino.

Throw in dozens of tunes you probably know by heart, and “Disaster!” comes off like thunder, lightning. And (knock knock knock on wood) the way you’ll love it is frightening.