Should anyone ever question Desirée Dabney’s love of Disney, she need only show a little skin: the Richmond actor, singer and director has a dozen Disney tattoos, including ones from “The Lion King,” “Cinderella” and “Lilo & Stitch.”

“I am a huge Disney fan,” says Dabney, who is also an assistant professor for VCUarts Theatre and its head of musical theater. “As a theater professor, I always, always, always talk about the importance of storytelling in Disney.”

This weekend, Richmond audiences will reap the benefit of Dabney’s love of Disney as her show “Disney’s Descendants: The Musical” takes the stage at Virginia Commonwealth University’s W.E. Singleton Center for Performing Arts. Based on the 2015 Disney Channel movie of the same name, “Descendants” concerns the children of Disney villains Maleficent, the Evil Queen, Jafar and Cruella de Vil.

In this storyline, Belle and Beast from “Beauty and the Beast” have somehow survived the French Revolution and become king and queen. They have formed a prosperous new nation called the United States of Auradon while the baddies of yesteryear have been banished to the Isle of the Lost. This island slum is surrounded by a barrier that suspends magic.

Twenty years later, Belle and Beast’s son Ben proclaims that four children of Disney villains will have a chance to live in Auradon away from their parents’ evil influence. Now attending Auradon Preparatory, this band of troublemakers must go to gym class alongside the offspring of Disney heroes.

“It’s up to the children to figure out if they are evil, or, when they get invited to this new school in Auradon, if they are actually good,” explains Dabney, the show’s director. “It’s the story of their kids not really following in their parents footsteps but going in a different path.”

Dabney says that “Descendants” — which is now a franchise that just released the trailer for its fourth movie — has special resonance for college students who grew up watching the original film as kids; this is only the second production of “Descendants” to be staged by a university.

“They are so excited,” Dabney says. “They get a chance to bring something that they grew up to life, which is really awesome to see.”

Katherine Nguyen, a 19-year-old sophomore, says her character, Carlos de Vil, is her favorite from the “Descendants” franchise.

“Carlos is really skittish,” Nguyen explains. “He’s 15. Everyone is older than him. He’s the runt of the litter. He doesn’t get taken very seriously and is always trailing behind everybody else.”

Michelle Roux, a 21-year-old senior who plays Queen Belle, says her interpretation of the character is a “lady in charge.”

“Queen Belle is like the classic version from ‘Beauty and the Beast,’” Roux says. “She is loving, honorable. She does love to read, but in this version, she does take a more commanding approach.”

Roux says that the show’s stunts and choreography have taken a lot of effort to perfect.

“We have various different forms of dancing stunts and also some fight choreography,” Roux says. “It’s a lot of hip hop, and we have definitely worked hours, day-in and day-out, on getting the beats right, meshing it well with the music.”

Nguyen lauds the show’s character designs.

“They’re very, very cool, bright colors, lots of wigs, super fancy costumes,” Nguyen says. “The costumes for the evil villains are personal favorites.”

Dabney says there’s so much sparkle in the show that the crew held a “rhinestone party” this past weekend to finish the costumes, and that the lighting, sound and set elements are also standouts.

“When you walk into the theater, it’s almost like you are walking into a castle,” Dabney says. “You can tell that there’s so much joy with this and so much pride.”

Dabney’s favorite Disney tattoo? Princess Tiana from the New Orleans-set “The Princess and the Frog.”

“It’s a good reminder that dreams do come true, which is what her motto was,” Dabney says.

VCUarts Theatre’s “Disney’s Descendants: The Musical” runs through April 28 at the W.E. Singleton Center for Performing Arts, 922 Park Ave. For information, visit arts.vcu.edu/theatre or call (804) 828-1514.