Dead or Alive opening at Gaiety needs no introduction? (10)

'dead' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'alive opening at gaiety needs no introduction?' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'alive' could be 'animated' ('animated' can be a synonym of 'alive') and 'animated' is found within the answer.
'no' could be 'n' (common abbreviation) and 'n' is located in the answer.
A single letter 'u' remains which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).

'or' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?