CJ E&M, Korea's leading entertainment company, said Friday it has generated $200 million in sales from investing in the hit Broadway musical "Kinky Boots" even before its opening.

In 2012, the Seoul-based company became a co-producer of the show that tells the story of a man who latches onto the niche market of making boots for transvestites after inheriting a failing shoe business from his father.

The company provided 7.4 percent of the $13.5 million necessary to jump-start the musical adaptation of the British comedy-drama film of the same name.

The show, directed by Jerry Mitchell, premiered at Al Hirschfeld Theater in New York in April 2013, and it swept up six Tony Awards that same year. Harvey Fierstein, author of the revised version of the London musical "Funny Girl," wrote the script, and Cyndi Lauper, a Grammy, Emmy and Tony Award-winning recording artist, composed the music.

In "Kinky Boots," a young man named Charlie Price is forced to take over a shoe manufacturer after his father, who owned the business, suddenly passes away.

The company, Price & Son, starts to fall apart as Price, who does not believe shoe-making is his true calling, continues to churn out shoes people no longer want. One day, he encounters a charismatic drag queen, Lola, who inspires him to carve out his own niche by producing flashy boots for transvestite clients.

The musical is both a saga of men trying to reconcile their disobedient past with the present and a question of human sexuality. The number "What a Woman Wants" delves into that question, with Don, a hyper-masculine employee who picks on Lola, representing the traditional, chauvinistic side, and Lola the more liberal, feminist one. Ultimately, Lola's view prevails, with Don showing up on stage in the so-called "kinky boots" originally meant for transvestites only. 

With a sextet of transvestites doing cartwheels and splits every other number, this sex-positive act is an unusual investment for a Korean company. Korea has not been particularly friendly towards lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people, with nearly 60 percent of Koreans saying homosexuality should not be accepted by society in 2013, according to a Pew Research Center survey.

"The topic may seem unorthodox for Korea, but the overall message is universal," said Choi Yoon-ha, CJ E&M's international business representative. He was in charge of the company's partial acquisition of the musical's intellectual property rights in 2012.

"Kinky Boots" first landed in South Korea in December 2014, only a year and a half after its Broadway debut. It will return to Korea for a second run from Sept. 2 to Nov. 13. (Yonhap)