Deep inside a cavernous warehouse in Queens, New York, the artisans of Jim Henson’s Creature Shop have spent decades crafting the puppets, costumes, and creatures that brought to life Kermit the Frog, Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, and the fantastical inhabitants of “The Dark Crystal” and “Fraggle Rock.” For the first time, the public can step inside.
The company has opened the doors of its Queens workshop to Saturday tours that, at $150 a person, give fans a rare, 80‑minute look at the once‑hidden studio, according to the Associated Press. Visitors start in a room filled with real props and creations, including a display of Oscar the Grouch in his trash can surrounded by piles of fake garbage, a menacing black throne from “The Dark Crystal,” and a full‑sized working puppet of Junior Gorg, a giant from “Fraggle Rock” that requires multiple performers to operate.
“There is a level of expertise here that we’re sharing. It’s not just going to a pop‑up store or something like that,” Jason Weber, the shop’s creative supervisor, said during a recent visit. “Things are made one‑of‑a‑kind, made by hand with artisans who have been trained for years and decades.”
The actual workshop floor is filled with fantastical creatures in various stages of assembly. Drawers and bins in nearly every corner hold colorful furs, textured fabrics, and ready‑made puppet body parts, clothing, and accessories. “Everything we do is custom. Everything we do is bespoke,” said Melissa Creighton, the shop’s director.
Photography and video are allowed only in the first room; much of the workshop contains proprietary works in progress. The tours also include a chance to meet a puppet builder and watch a live puppetry demonstration.
Jim Henson founded the Creature Shop in the 1960s in Manhattan. It moved several times around the city before settling at its current Queens location in 2009. Henson’s creations now reach far beyond the Muppets: the shop’s credits range from the 1990s sitcom “Dinosaurs” to the horror film “Five Nights at Freddy’s” and the children’s fantasy movie “Where the Wild Things Are.” The company also has a workshop in Los Angeles, though it does not offer tours.
Senior puppet builder Sierra Schoening said that working at the shop had been her “pie‑in‑the‑sky” dream job. Growing up, her favorite film was “The Labyrinth,” Henson’s 1986 musical fantasy starring David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly.
“I just really always wanted to know how those illusions were made,” Schoening said as she paused from fashioning new creations. “I know all the secret sauce, and I’m making the secret sauce now.”
The tours arrive as staff prepare pieces for a “Fraggle Rock” musical set to open later this month in a theater near Times Square. The shop’s legacy remains closely tied to Henson’s wider universe: Disney now owns “The Muppets,” while Sesame Workshop holds the rights to Big Bird and other characters Henson created for “Sesame Street,” which continues to film at a nearby studio. Henson died in 1990.