This NEW Backstage Tour Is a Muppets Fan's DREAM

If you’re a fan of The Muppets, then this new backstage tour needs to go on your bucket list. But no, this new behind-the-scenes look isn’t at Disney — no theme park ticket required!

©Disney

Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, the puppet workshop founded by the legendary creator of The Muppets, is now drawing back the curtain for backstage tours!

This year, Jim Henson’s Creature Shop opened its New York City workshop to public tours for the first time. Fans can meet a puppet builder, watch a puppetry demonstration, and take photos and videos with beloved and iconic Jim Henson characters. Henson originally founded the workshop in the 1960s in Manhattan, and it has moved multiple times around the city before settling in its current location in Queens since 2009.

©Jim Henson Co.

The 80-minute workshop tours take place on Saturdays between 10 AM and 5 PM. You’ll start in a large room specially created for the tour, filled with real show props and creations from classic movies and TV shows. It’s the only spot on the tour where visitors are allowed to take photos and videos, as much of what’s in the actual workshop is works in progress or proprietary.

Sierra Scoenining, a senior puppet builder at Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, ©Associated Press

Among the centerpieces is an Oscar the Grouch display where the Sesame Street character is in his familiar trash can surrounded by heaps of fake garbage. You can also see a menacing black throne from The Dark Crystal, Henson’s 1982 live-action fantasy film, and a full-sized working puppet of Junior Gorg, a giant from Fraggle Rock, which requires multiple performers to manipulate.

©Jim Vincenti

The workshop space itself is filled with fantastical creatures in various stages of assembly. There are drawers and bins tucked into nearly every corner, brimming with colorful furs, textured fabrics, and ready-made puppet body parts, clothing, and accessories.

Fabrication supervisor Scott Johnson working on ‘Fraggle Rock’ puppets ©Ray Kachatorian

“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, told the Associated Press. “Things are made one-of-a-kind, made by hand with artisans who have been trained for years and decades.” He hopes the tour will allow fans to celebrate the unsung craftspeople who bring these famous characters to life.

Tickets are $150 per person, and you can book online. We’re so excited to learn more about The Muppets and Jim Henson with this new tour. Stay tuned to Disney Food Blog for more Disney news!

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