46. The Charles Theater
City: Baltimore, MD
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (410) 727-3456
Address: 1711 North Charles St.
Description: This is our city’s premier cinema for international and rare films. Housed in a renovated 108-year-old Beaux-Arts building, The Charles has five screens, most with stadium seating. The lobby is spacious and comfortable and it attaches to the adjacent Tapas Teatro cafe, which is the perfect spot for a pre-movie meal. Every year The Charles helps host the Maryland Film Festival and on Sundays it offers a film series called Cinema Sunday, which begins with a simple brunch of bagels, coffee, tea, and includes a speaker after the film. Doors open at 9:45 a.m. for brunch and conversation. The film begins at 10:35 a.m. Tickets are $6 for matinees (any show before 6 p.m.) and $8 for evening presentations.
48. Toby’S Dinner Theatre
City: Baltimore, MD
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (410) 649-1660, (866) 99-TOBYS
Address: 5625 O’Donnell St.
Description: Toby’s Dinner Theatre has been a fixture in nearby Columbia for nearly 30 years and now founder Toby Orenstein brings her mix of musical theater and a hearty buffet to this unlikely spot, a hotel off I-95 beside a hotel, truck plaza, and bus station. The season is ambitious, with plays year-round. In its opening season in 2006–2007, Toby’s produced Fiddler on the Roof, Grease, and Dreamgirls. Productions change every two to three months. Everybody will find something they like on the buffet, including the sundae bar. Sunday plays begin with brunch. Tickets run about $45.