Cole Escola, the actor and writer whose own webpage says Escola is “trailer trash born and raised in rural Oregon,” has already won positive reviews and sellout audiences during the Off Broadway of Escola’s comedy, “Oh, Mary!” And now the play is earning even more raves, after its move to Broadway.

The play, a uniquely comic take on Abraham Lincoln’s wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, was written by Escola, and stars the actor as a version of Mary who yearns to do cabaret and is also an alcoholic.

As Escola said in a recent appearance on “Late Night With Seth Meyers,” in which the actor was dressed in the Mary Todd Lincoln hoop-skirt costume and bouncing-curls wig, Escola did “less than no research” for the farcical spin on the historical figure.

That approach seems to have worked, not just for the play’s twice-extended run Off Broadway, but for its elevation to Broadway’s Lyceum Theater. The Broadway World website has a round-up of the critical responses, which range from ecstatic to raves.

The New York Times, for example, noted that Escola has proudly reclaimed “an insulting epithet as a badge of honor,” as Escola has often said, “‘Oh, Mary!’ is the stupidest play.”

“They protest too much,” Jesse Green wrote. “‘Oh, Mary!’ may be silly, campy, even pointless, but ‘stupid,’ I think not. Rather, the play, which opened on Thursday at the Lyceum Theater, is one of the best crafted and most exactingly directed Broadway comedies in years.”

Green went on, “The totally unserious ‘Oh, Mary!’” isn’t delivering a message, and instead “wants you to lose your breath guffawing, especially with a series of switchback shocks at the end, so cleverly conceived and executed they’re hilarious.”

The Hollywood Reporter wrote, “Queer alt-comedy in the vein of ’Oh, Mary!’ seldom makes it to Broadway, so the arrival of Cole Escola’s downtown theatrical sensation at the Lyceum is cause for Big Gay Jubilation. But if that makes this blissfully absurd rethink of a key moment in American history sound like niche entertainment showing up late for Pride Month, don’t be deceived. It’s hard to imagine anyone with a sense of humor not joining the infectious laughter sparked by Escola’s gut-bustingly funny antics, reimagining Mary Todd Lincoln as an alcoholic cabaret artiste manqué, married to a president struggling to keep the closet door shut.”

The Vulture review said, in part, “Cole Escola’s riotous, extremely faux-historical farce, ‘Oh, Mary!,’ has begun its Broadway run, and long may it reign. ‘Oh, Mary!’ took the West Village deliriously captive in its big gay pirate ship back in the spring, and while the wickedly clever Escola — who made their name first on YouTube playing wonderfully unhinged characters, then as a scene-stealer on shows like ‘Search Party’ and ‘Difficult People’ — is on record calling the uptown transfer ‘a mistake, they and director Sam Pinkleton have wisely left funny enough alone. Really, far more than enough — ‘Oh, Mary!’ is hilarious and, underneath the mayhem, both structurally rock solid and sneakily moving.”

And, yet another example, Entertainment Weekly was also impressed: ”'Oh, Mary!’ is laugh-out-loud funny from the first moments; though much of the humor comes from Escola’s unbelievable delivery and the slapstick combination of actors on stage. But what makes ‘Oh, Mary! ‘such a fulfilling theatrical experience is that it also has a real message about the dangers of repression, both societal and personal. Letting people express themselves and live their truth may not solve every political problem, but it can certainly make life way more fun. Escola’s doing that, and the rest of us should too.”

Escola was born in Clatskanie, in northwest Oregon. As Escola’s website says, the actor “left home at 18 and followed their high school sweetheart to New York City. The relationship melted and Cole ended up in show business.”

To see more of Cole Escola, stream “Search Party” on platforms including Max and Amazon Prime Video; “Difficult People” is streaming on platforms including Hulu.