Jim Henson's Creature Shop opens to public for first time

For the first time, Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, the legendary workshop behind the Muppets, Sesame Street, and Fraggle Rock, has opened its doors to the public, offering fans a rare behind-the-scenes look at the artisans who build and bring the iconic characters to life. The 80-minute tours, held on Saturdays at the shop’s Long Island City, Queens, location, cost $150 per person and include a live puppetry demonstration, a chance to meet puppet builders, and photo opportunities with real props and creations.

The tours are designed to spotlight the skilled craftspeople who have worked for years in relative anonymity, according to Jason Weber, the shop’s creative supervisor. “There is a level of expertise here that we’re sharing,” Weber said. “It’s not just going to be a popup store or something like that. Things are made one-of-a-kind, made by hand with artisans who have been trained for years and decades.”

Jim Henson, the imaginative force behind characters such as Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Big Bird, and Cookie Monster, founded the workshop in Manhattan in the 1960s. The shop has moved multiple times around the city and has operated from its current Queens location since 2009....