October 30, 1983

It is a perennial dream that one day the fine arts will walk into the theater and come up with stage-pictures that, once seen, will never be forgotten. But for one reason or another the alliance between art and the stage has for several hundred years been an on-again, off-again affair. (For some evidence of that, take a look at the exhibition of stage designs that echoes the centenary celebrations of the Metropolitan Opera and can be seen at the Pierpont Morgan Library through Nov. 6.) But right now the romance between art and the stage is very much on again in New York City. In fact it would be difficult to think of a fall season that has promised so much in that context and seems so likely to deliver. From Picasso's classic designs for ''Parade,'' which can be seen this very afternoon as part of the Joffrey Ballet's season at the City Center, to inventions without precedent like the one that Francesco Clemente has in hand for the current Next Wave Festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, there's simply no end to it.

As Marvin Ravikoff tells it, when he bought the decrepit Capitol Theater at 149 Westchester Avenue in Port Chester, N.Y., earlier this year, the ground floor was filled with water and there were ''about 20 million pigeons in residence.'' Since then he has begun rehabilitating the 2,000-seat theater, which had been closed for seven years.

SAN FRANCISCO IT WAS a sunny day here two weeks ago - and from the 40th floor of BankAmerica's dark granite building, it was easy to spot the Golden Gate Bridge and the hills of Marin County to the north. But inside the executive suite the mood was dark and the atmosphere was heavy. And with good reason. Third-quarter earnings had just been released and they were disastrous - per-share profits had dropped a whopping 45 percent from the year before. Worse still, Samuel H. Armacost, the BankAmerica Corporation's president and chief executive officer, admitted that the company's woes were far from over.

SAM GOLDAPER Bernard King called it ''a strange game.'' Coach Hubie Brown referred to it as ''a great win for us.'' It was both last night as the Knicks defeated the Washington Bullets, 100-97, at Madison Square Garden. But before the Knicks recorded their second straight victory of the National Basketball Association season and the Bullets lost their second in a row, New York had to survive a second-quarter cold spell in which they shot 0 for 17 from the floor.

J. D. Gross led a blitzing Maryland defense that broke up a 2-point conversion attempt with 22 seconds left today and preserved a 28-26 upset over previously undefeated North Carolina. ''Now I want to go to the Orange Bowl,'' said Gross, a linebacker who forced Carolina's quarterback, Scott Stankavage, to misfire on his pass attempt that would have tied the game. Boomer Esiason, the left-handed Maryland quarterback, brought his team back from a 7-point deficit in the third period by throwing two touchdown passes that put Maryland just far enough ahead. For North Carolina, which was ranked third in both wire service polls this week, and 10th in The New York Times computer rating, the loss ended a nine-game winning streak and dropped its record this season to 7-1. It may have also knocked Carolina out of any chance at a major bowl bid this year.