A rock and roll historian, a Leonardo da Vinci scholar, a Broadway insider and a living-history performer who becomes Paul Revere are all headed to Bloomfield Hills this year as Oakland Town Hall rolls out its 2026-27 lecture season. The nonprofit, which has brought speakers to suburban Detroit audiences since 1959, has announced four programs running from October through May at The Iroquois Club, mixing musical history, American history myths, Broadway lore and art history into a single season.
The season opens on October 14 with Louis Masur, a distinguished professor of American studies and history at Rutgers University, presenting Presley to Springsteen — The Songs That Defined Rock and Roll, according to The Oakland Press. It will be Masur's fourth appearance before the group, and his talk draws on his book From Presley to Springsteen, published by Rutgers University Press in September 2024, which examines ten songs including Elvis Presley's “Hound Dog,” Chuck Berry's “Johnny B. Goode,” Bob Dylan's “Like a Rolling Stone” and Bruce Springsteen's “Born to Run.” Masur has received teaching prizes from Harvard University, the City College of New York, Trinity College and Rutgers, and his essays and reviews have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN and Slate, per the Oakland Press report.
Paul Revere Rides Into Town Hall
On November 11, historical portrayer Mike Woloszyk arrives as Paul Revere in person for a program titled A Midnight Ride, explaining that many Revolutionary War stories are more myth than fact. Woloszyk runs History Gigs, where he has spent a decade presenting living history portrayals of figures such as Thomas Edison, Benjamin Franklin, Henry Ford and Paul Revere for schools, libraries and senior communities across Michigan, according to History Gigs. He was until recently marketing and operations director at the Plymouth Historical Museum and still performs with the Plymouth Living History Troupe in Michigan, portraying local historical figures at community events including the Ghosts of Plymouth Walk and the museum's murder mystery fundraisers, per the Plymouth Living History Troupe. Town Hall notes he also maintains an extensive collection of artifacts and books, along with an Abraham Lincoln memorabilia collection.
The season moves to Broadway on April 14 when Sean Hartley returns to Town Hall for a second visit with Broadway in the Sixties, playing musical examples from shows of the decade while examining 1960s Broadway musicals amid social, political, racial and sexual unrest. Hartley is director of the musical theater division of the Kaufman Music Center, where he curates, produces and hosts the long-running concert lecture series Broadway Close Up and Broadway Playhouse, exploring the works and histories of major American theater composers, according to the Kaufman Music Center. His own musical, Snow, won the ASCAP Harold Arlen Award for Best New Musical, and he earned a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Lyrics for Cupid and Psyche; he has also written stage adaptations of children's books including Lois Lowry's Number the Stars and Ludwig Bemelmans' Sunshine, plus scripts for Disney Channel's The Book of Pooh.
A Da Vinci Detective Closes the Season
The season wraps May 12 with Denise Budd presenting The Groundbreaking Genius of Leonardo da Vinci, discussing both da Vinci's career and canonical works as well as ambitious plans that never came to fruition. Town Hall describes Budd as a scholar of Leonardo da Vinci and an archival detective; she received a Ph.D. from Columbia University in 2002 after completing a dissertation on primary documentary evidence of da Vinci's career in Milan, and she previously directed ArtWatch International, advocating for preservation of cultural monuments such as Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling, according to Cassidy & Fishman Inc. She has taught at Columbia and Rutgers universities, spent two decades teaching art history courses, appeared on A&E's Biography and the Movie Reel series, and published research articles that demythologize and humanize da Vinci's genius, per the Oakland Press.
Both Masur and Hartley are also regular public lecturers for Curiosity University, formerly known as One Day University, a national platform that presents university-level talks to general audiences. All four Town Hall programs begin at 10:30 a.m. at The Iroquois Club, located at 43248 Woodward Ave. in Bloomfield Hills — the same Woodward Avenue corridor venue that hosted last season's talks by nautical archaeologist Dr. James Delgado and Detroit-area vocalist Vanessa Carr.
Limited Seats Mean Season Reservations Only
Because The Iroquois Club seats a maximum of 200 guests, Oakland Town Hall — organized in 1959 under the name Pontiac Town Hall — accepts only season reservations due to limited seating, though the group maintains a waiting list for individual lecture and luncheon seats that are honored if space becomes available. Patrons who cannot attend a lecture are asked to notify the absentee hot line. Denise Nault handles registration information and can be reached at 248-515-7253. Oakland Town Hall PR chairman Ruth Schluchter submitted the season announcement to the Oakland Press, describing the lineup as continuing the group's tradition of offering interesting and innovative speakers.
