Meet the Broadway Brokers of New York Real Estate

SERHANT’s Chloe Tucker Caine grew up in the French court, oui, oui, bonjour, but life was a chore, so she set sail … Oh, wait a minute, that wasn’t Caine, that was Anne Boleyn, the character Caine will portray when she makes her Broadway debut in the musical “Six” on Aug. 17. 

Caine, 36, is best known for her role on Netflix’s “Owning Manhattan,” but has appeared off Broadway as Sophie in the national tour of “Mamma Mia!” and as Ginny in “Chasing the Song” at the La Jolla Playhouse. She is just one of several real estate professionals who also have ties to Broadway, a combination of industries that those involved say go together like “Hamilton” and Tony Awards. 

“As theater kids, we’re tenacious, and we will find a way,” Caine said. “The amazing thing about real estate is there’s no wrong way to do it. It really is one of the only careers that gives you the freedom to say, ‘I’m going to make my own rules.’ The really incredible thing about this industry is the freedom and creativity it allows you.” 

Real estate agent was never a career Caine envisioned for herself. She’d been singing and dancing since the age of 4, and had every intention of becoming a Broadway star. But, like so many people in the theater space, the words “and then the pandemic hit” threw a wrench in her plans. 

“I had been Airbnb-ing my apartment to make rent while I was auditioning for gigs, which eventually became illegal,” Caine explained. “My boyfriend — now husband — at the time said, ‘Why don’t you get your real estate license?’ So I did. I knew nothing about real estate, started watching ‘Million Dollar Listing,’ fell in love with Ryan Serhant and what he was doing, and said, ‘I can do that, sign me up,’ and that’s how it all started.”

And that was when it clicked for Caine — that you can be theatrical even in real estate. Part of Caine’s shtick is that she markets the units she is selling by creating and performing in musical skits highlighting the aspects of each one. 

At first, she had no intention of being both a broker and an actor. 

“I completely switched gears, and I said, ‘I’m gonna go fully into real estate, and be a serious real estate agent,’ ” she said. “It was my very brunette Elle Woods’ moment of I’m going to be a serious real estate salesperson.”

But privately Caine still loved acting and singing, and she wanted to incorporate that into her career as a broker. 

“Creating and performing make me happy,” she continued. “I got together with some friends and we started this project called ‘Chloe in Manhattan,’ which is a musical series that was telling the story of how I got into real estate from a musical lens, which then turned into making musical listing videos, and that’s really what started to propel my career in the real estate industry.”

And then she got the phone call about “Six,” a musical where the many wives of Henry VIII compete to become the next big pop sensation. But just because she’ll be playing Anne Boleyn in “Six” from August 2026 through February 2027 doesn’t mean Caine is hanging it up as an agent. She recently closed her largest deal to date, an $18 million condo sale at 80 Clarkson in the West Village. The freedom that the real estate industry often provides to set more of your own schedule will allow her to be a broker by day and perform on Broadway by night. 

And she isn’t alone in this pursuit. Just ask Brown Harris Stevens (BHS) brokers Jordan Silver and Marsi Gardiner, both of whom have taken on behind-the-scenes roles on Broadway. 

Gardiner and her husband, Eric, are producers and have earned Tony Awards for several shows, including the 2023 Tony for best revival of a musical for “Parade,” best musical in 2017 for “Dear Evan Hansen,” best musical for “Memphis” in 2010, and best musical for “Jersey Boys” in 2006. 

“We’re active producers, we’re involved from reading the script to making decisions — not about casting — but on marketing, about the tours, and we’re looking at the figures every day, which is very interesting, because it’s similar to real estate,” Marsi Gardiner said.

Gardiner has found that there are a number of similarities between producing a show and working in real estate. 

“In theater, the excitement of seeing a show is similar to walking into an apartment with your client for the first time,” she said. “Just like theater, there’s your first act, your intermission, and the staging.” 

Gardiner, who is part of the Arcus team at BHS, approaches both industries with openness, honesty, and a goal to cultivate strong, supportive and lasting relationships.

“My relationships are the most important thing to me,” she said. “It’s not about ego. And I am able to go back to a team and have support in both theater and real estate. We all work together. It’s about me being honest and open and making the right decisions for our producers, and our people that believe in us and trust us.”

BHS broker Jordan Silver takes a similar approach to his duties as a theater producer and his work in real estate. Silver — who is also a producer on the 1980s teen vampire film turned Broadway musical “The Lost Boys” — says both industries attract a similar kind of person. 

“I think the most successful real estate agents are also artists in a way,” he said. “They have to know how to listen, they have to know how to think outside the box, and I feel that in both industries it takes a certain type of high-risk, ambitious person, who is willing to take the bet on themselves that they’re going to make it work, without a guaranteed salary, without a clear path, and that is the way I think of real estate and producing.”

In both real estate or theater, Silver said it is about shining a light on a product and presenting that product to the right people, people who will make the most of a unit or the opportunity the stage provides. 

“Whether it’s real estate or producing, I have a product to present to somebody that I think would be a good fit,” he said. “You’re brokering between the investor and the product, in the same way.” 

For Silver, Gardiner and Caine, Broadway is a dream come true. Each carved a name for themselves in the real estate world and are making their marks on the stage (or in the wings) as well, which ultimately propels their real estate careers forward.

“All of my clients have really appreciated the creativity of an outside-of-the-box way of thinking,” Serhant’s … er, “Six” ’s Caine said. “This is something different than any other agent can offer.” 

Amanda Schiavo can be reached at aschiavo@commercialobserver.com.