VIDEOS: The 1970s Disaster Movies That Inspired DISASTER!

While the new musical comedy DISASTER! boasts a jukebox score made up of 1970s hits, the flip side of the formula is the plot, which hilariously combines spoofs of one of the cheesiest of movie genres, the wave of 1970s disaster flicks.

It all started innocently enough in 1970 with AIRPORT, based on Arthur Hailey's novel telling intertwining stories about the crew and passengers of a commercial airline plane that's trying to make an emergency landing during a severe snow storm when it's discovered that a passenger has a bomb. Audiences today may scoff at the lenient airport security that allowed the situation to happen, but AIRPORT received a Best Picture Oscar nomination and theatre legend Helen Hayes took home a Best Supporting Actress Oscar as a loveable stowaway. AIRPORT was followed by three sequels and was a partial inspiration for the movie spoof AIRPLANE! and its sequels.

Click the photo below for AIRPORT's theatre trailer.

Like AIRPORT, THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE had an all-star cast playing out intertwining stories, but the 1972 classic produced by "Master of Disaster" Irwin Allen also displayed an all-star lineup of special effects, depicting a luxury ship being capsized by a tidal wave and all the obstacles getting in the way of those trying to survive. Joel Hirschhorn and Al Kasha won a Best Song Oscar for "The Morning After," which became a hit for Maureen McGovern.

Irwin Allen followed THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE in 1974 with THE TOWERING INFERNO, about a fire breaking out on the top floors of the world's tallest building. The film picked up an Oscar nomination for Best Picture and Fred Astaire was the sentimental favorite, though not the victor, when he received a Supporting Actor nod. But Joel Hirschhorn and Al Kasha nabbed another Best Song Oscar for "We May Never Love Like This Again," another hit for Maureen McGovern.

Also released in 1974, EARTHQUAKE did not receive any Oscar nominations. Mark Robson's film about the big one shaking up Los Angeles is noted for its sound effect Sensurround which allowed audiences to actually feel as though they were experiencing an earthquake first hand.

Based on Peter Benchley's 1974 novel, Steven Spielberg's JAWS (1975) had Americans seriously reconsidering their beach vacations. Another Best Picture Oscar nominee, the story had Richard Dreyfuss as an oceanographer trying to stop a great white shark from terrorizing a New England resort town.

Though the decade was filled with thrillers like AVALANCHE, PIRANAH and ROLLERCOASTER, the craze was petering out once METEOR was released in 1979, but the story's threat of a five-mile wide space object on course to smack Earth in six days gave Cold War Era audiences an optimistic look at nations working together for their mutual survival.

Broadway's new musical comedy DISASTER!, directed by Jack Plotnick with a book by three-time Emmy Award nominee and Grammy Award nominee Seth Rudetsky and Jack Plotnick, officially opened last night, March 8, 2016, for a limited engagement through Sunday, July 3, 2016.

DISASTER! stars Tony Award winner Roger Bart (You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown), Tony Award nominee Kerry Butler (Xanadu), three-time Tony Award nominee Kevin Chamberlin (The Addams Family), Tony Award nominee Adam Pascal (Rent), Tony Award winner Faith Prince (Guys & Dolls), Drama Desk Award winner Rachel York (Victor/Victoria), three-time Emmy Award nominee and Grammy Award nominee Seth Rudetsky(SiriusXM's "Seth's Big Fat Broadway"), Four-Time Drama Desk Award nominee Jennifer Simard (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee), Max Crumm(Grease), Baylee Littrell and Lacretta Nicole and ensemble members Paul Castree, Tony Award nominee Manoel Felciano (Sweeney Todd), Casey Garvin, Travis Kent, Alyse Alan Louis, Maggie McDowell, Olivia Phillip and Catherine Ricafort.

Coming to Broadway, come hell or high water is the new musical comedy DISASTER!. Earthquakes, tidal waves, infernos and rampant wildlife can't stop an outrageous cast of characters from dancing, gambling and singing the night away aboard New York's first floating casino and discothèque.DISASTER! features some of the most memorable pop, rock and disco hits of the 1970s, including "Hot Stuff," "I Am Woman," "Knock On Wood," "Daybreak" and more.