March 28, 2002

Ben Brantley reviews play Franny's Way, written and directed by Richard Nelson; Kathleen Widdoes and Elizabeth Moss star; photo (M)

Joseph F Berardino, former chief executive of Arthur Andersen, says his decision to resign as chief executive sends message to Andersen's employees to keep up their fight for survival of company, interview; says he resigned to prove to government how much Andersen was willing to change; reveals details of how firm discovered document destruction that led to its indictment; also talks about failed negotiations with government and possible merger partners and plans that Andersen has for coming weeks and months as it continues to struggle to survive; photo (M)

Mike Freeman On Pro Football column discusses life behind bars for Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown, in prison for refusing counseling after being convicted for vandalizing car of his wife; Brown is refusing food and survives only on water to make statement about what he considers an unfair sentence; photo (M)

Manhattan's International Center of Photography opens exhibitions of works by W Eugene Smith and of American and European print photography from 1918 through 1939; Film Society of Lincoln Center will present six-film tribute to director Budd Boetticher; New York Theater Ballet will present Alice in Wonderland Follies, conceived and choreographed by Keith Michael; American Ballet Theater principal dancer Susan Jaffe will retire after performing title role in Giselle on June 24; Hayley Mills will make debut in Food for Thought series of staged readings in The Last Yankee by Arthur Miller at National Arts Club; 24th annual Museum Mile Festival along Fifth Avenue will take place on June 11; photos (M)

Partners at Arthur Andersen engage in fierce debate over what strategy accounting firm should take one day after resignation of chief executive Joseph F Berardino; several partners in firm's audit practice call Paul A Volcker to say they will support his plan to overhaul firm; other partners want to find someone else to lead firm, preferably someone with industry experience who will not be interim cartaker; other want to break free entirely, joining rival untainted by Enron (M)

'Incubator' boutiques, featuring fashions of young unknown designers, are established by business improvement groups on Lower East Side and in Harlem to promote shopping areas and help offset start-up costs that cause failure of many fledgling stores; photos of Forward on Orchard Street and The Brownstone on Fifth Avenue near 125th Street (M)

Pres Bush signs campaign finance reform bill into law without ceremony, then leaves Washington for two-day, three-state trip to raise nearly $4 million for Republican candidates and his party; says he is not 'really unhappy' with bill, but issues statement critical of its major provisions; quiet, no-cameras signing, with fund-raising tour as follow-up, underscores how little enthusiasm he has for bill that had been championed by Sen John McCain, his rival for presidential nomination in 2000; some Republicans are fuming that Bush stood aloof from their efforts to kill politically popular measure in Congress; within hours of signing, Sen Mitch McConnell and National Rifle Assn file separate suits in federal court challenging it on constitutional grounds; photo (M)

Many hospitals struggle to cope with surprising increases in number of patients, after years in which they closed beds and laid off workers; since 1985, number of hospitals has declined about 14 percent and number of beds declined 18 percent; at current levels, hospitals have almost no ability to handle unexpected increase in patients; some hospitals are being forced to turn away ambulances; at others, emergency room patients who are admitted wait hours or even days for rooms; reasons cited for increased demand for hospital rooms are: insurers have loosened their controls and now allow more patients to be treated in emergency rooms or overnight; many people have lost their jobs and their health insurance and now rely on emergency rooms as health care providers; aging baby boomers are more likely to experience serious illness or injury; experts are divided as to whether increase in patient visits is lasting change; photo; graphs (L)

Two Costes brothers, Jean-Louis and Gilbert, are creating chic destination restaurants throughout Paris, such as recently opened Etienne Marcel, as well as hotels; they are experts in creating places people want to stay in, eat in and be seen in; French designer Andree Putman is fan of two Costes hotels and their seven trendy restaurants; photos (L)

Manhattan hotels see rebound after dark days that followed Sept 11 terrorist attack; average occupancy rate in Feb was 74 percent, only one percentage point lower than in Feb 2001; hotels that belong to chains, like W Hotel in Times Square, are faring better because larger companies have more ways to cut costs; photo (M)

New Jersey legislators and Wall Street analysts warn that $23.66-billion spending plan proposed by Gov James McGreevey contains some of same flaws that have plagued state's budgets for years, such as understating actual spending, using overly high revenue predictions and one-time revenue sources; McGreevey, who promised to end state's bad fiscal habits, did acccomplish difficult balancing act by closing projected $5.3-billion shortfall without resorting to unpopular tax increases, but he is relying heavily on borrowing and nonrecurring revenues; his photo (M)

It is an old ritual here by now. As the fiscal year nears its close on March 31, fears of a financial meltdown reach fever pitch. Alarmed investors head for the exits, raising even more worries that the nation's banks will collapse after lop