This Popular Maryland Dinner Theater Has Been Ranked 2nd In The Nation By USA Today

COLUMBIA, MD — Toby's Dinner Theatre in Howard County has been ranked the second best dinner theater in the country, according to USA Today's 10 Best list.

Toby's Dinner Theater has been entertaining patrons for decades with classics like Annie to toe-tapping crowd pleasers like 9 to 5 The Musical.

"Congratulations to the Orensteins and the entire Toby's family. It's no surprise that the unforgettable experiences you create night after night have received the national recognition they deserve," wrote Visit Howard County.

Toby's Dinner Theatre will see a new Performing Arts Center built in its current site. Plans for the center include a new 340-seat dinner theater to support the existing Toby’s Dinner Theatre operation, which will be transferred to the nonprofit Columbia Center for Theatrical Arts to run shows and provide community programs. The dinner theater component of the project should wrap up by spring 2026. The center also will include a 200-seat Children’s Theatre ran by CCTA and a 200-seat Blackbox Theater ran by the Howard County Arts Council. These two theaters are expected to be complete by the spring of 2028, officials said.

The Performing Arts Center will become a part of a broader network of arts organizations that have a presence in downtown Columbia, including the Merriweather Arts & Culture Center, Inner Arbor Trust, the Lakefront, Color Burst Park and the Chrysalis. Toby’s Dinner Theater will become a part of the Columbia Center for the Theatrical Arts, a nonprofit organization that provides performing arts education to youth throughout the county.

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